Page 38 - Summer2020final

An overactive ANTIBODIES AND VACCINES died from Covid-19 to those who had a milder
We are hearing a lot of hype from the media case with respect to their flu vaccination status.
Th-2-type about two solutions to the Covid-19 crisis. The While the media enthusiastically promote
response is first is a massive campaign to test for antibod- the idea that a vaccine for SARS CoV-2 is on
already being ies to SARS-CoV-2 and to give those who test the way, they are not drawing attention to an
observed positive a free license to stop practicing social important study published in 2012 in PLoS One.
distancing. The second is the promise that a The study involved vaccinating mice with four
with vaccine will soon be developed, and we can just different candidate vaccines being developed
Covid-19, and vaccinate the entire world to halt the infection against the strain of coronavirus responsible for
vaccination and go “back to normal.” severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). 58
Both of these ideas are fallacious. Instead, The authors were concerned because previous
might just we should be pushing toward steps we can take studies had revealed that both a whole-virus vac-

make it even to boost the innate immune system, because cine and a virus-like-particle based vaccine had
worse. that is where the solution lies. In fact, people induced an immunopathological lung disease
who have a strong innate immune system can in ferrets and non-human primates following
deal with environmental challenges (or can exposure to the virus. Such a phenomenon is
clear a virus from their body, if the cause is a referred to as vaccine-induced “disease en-
virus) without experiencing any symptoms and hancement.” Their study with mice confirmed
without producing antibodies. Those who have that the same problem encountered in ferrets
an intense antibody production run the risk of and non-human primates also arose in the mice
developing autoimmune disease down the road, given the four vaccines under study. The vac-
due to the antibodies attacking human proteins cinated mice responded to viral infection with
through a process called molecular mimicry. a so-called Th2-type immunopathology, with
The flu vaccine has not been successful an excessive infiltration of eosinophils, which
in fighting off flu, and there is no reason to are known for their tendency to release large
believe that a coronavirus vaccine would have numbers of cytokines and chemokines. This
a high success rate either. Increasingly, though, overactive Th-2-type response is already being
health care providers have encouraged us to get observed with Covid-19, and vaccination might
an influenza vaccine every year. Many—both just make it even worse.
young and old—have complied. Now there is My suspicion is that the vaccine induces
concern that this policy may have caused an unnecessary antibody production, which then
increased susceptibility to an acute response to primes the adaptive system following infection
Covid-19. A study published in 2012 compared to kick in immediately with an over-reactive re-
children who were vaccinated with a trivalent sponse, bypassing the usual channels ordinarily
inactivated flu vaccine against a placebo group. followed by the innate immune system. It is the
The vaccinated children experienced a 4.4-fold cytokines and chemokines that are destructive
increased risk of infection with non-influenza to the lung tissue, and they likely would not be
viruses compared to controls. This suggests that necessary to fight off illness if the innate im-
the flu vaccine decreases the body’s innate abil- mune system is strong.
ity to fight off infection, generically—that is, it Another serious problem with the develop-
weakens the innate immune system. ment of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is that the virus
56
A case study published in 2017 reported on appears to be mutating very rapidly. A group
two cases of interstitial pneumonia developing of researchers in China performed sequence
immediately following flu vaccination. The analyses of virus samples obtained from several
symptoms were remarkably similar to Covid-19, different patients suffering from Covid-19, and
with a low-grade fever, general fatigue and a they found thirty-one different mutations among
dry cough, progressing to shortness of breath, the analyzed sequences. Furthermore, different
59
low oxygen and evidence of severe lung dam- strains appeared to have vastly different degrees
age. It would be worthwhile to conduct a study of virulence. We can hope that the virus may
57
comparing those who ended up in the ICU or mutate to a more benign form over time, but
36 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2020