"Natural immunity" is the latest fad among the Trump cultists.

[guillaumeb]

In my area, one local medical professional is preaching the religion of natural immunity.

I wonder if he graduated from the Rand Paul school of fantasy medicine.

But for those who live in reality:

Natural immunity is the antibody protection your body creates against a germ once you’ve been infected with it. Natural immunity varies according to the person and the germ. For example, people who have had the measles are not likely to get it again, but this is not the case for every disease. A mild case of an illness may not result in strong natural immunity. New studies show that natural immunity to the coronavirus weakens (wanes) over time, and does so faster than immunity provided by COVID-19 vaccination.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-natural-immunity-what-you-need-to-know

Natural immunity, or exposure to a disease that helps the immune system fight future infections, is better than no immunity. But, with COVID-19, it’s not better than a vaccination.
A new study based on data from 187 hospitals in nine states found that mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are about five times more effective than a previous infection at preventing hospitalization. Among those hospitalized between January and September with COVID-like symptoms, anyone with a previous infection who remained unvaccinated was 5.49 times more likely to test positive than someone fully vaccinated.

https://hartfordhealthcare.org/about-us/news-press/news-detail?articleid=36892&publicId=395

Key to understanding a lot of the misinformation about COVID-19, its spread, and COVID-19 vaccines is an understanding that none of this misinformation is new…..
and the appeal to “natural immunity” to the coronavirus and “natural herd immunity” as being inherently superior to vaccine-induced immunity or herd immunity from mass vaccination, which are denigrated as being somehow less than natural, artificial even—or even outright harmful. Never mind that achieving “natural herd immunity” requires that huge numbers of people be sickened and die of the disease, just as individual immunity from the disease requires the individual to be sickened and face the risk of severe disease and death.

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/natural-immunity-covid-19/

[Achilleaze]

1. Natural Idiocy, however, remains the Default Setting

for the Trump Republicans and their ongoing war on truth, decency, and American democracy.

[gab13by13]

2. They have been pushing herd immunity from the beginning.

The only reason that herd immunity works is because it kills off a lot more people, so basically, herd immunity has never worked.

[Ocelot II]

3. Natural stupidity seems to be pretty widespread, though.

Natural immunity sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't. We have to get flu shots every year because the various flu viruses keep mutating. I got one version of it years ago and it was awful enough that I really don't want to get it again, but getting it didn't make me immune, so I get the vaccinations. Natural immunity does seem to work with some of the childhood diseases, but a measles vaccine was created because to arrive at natural herd immunity a lot of kids would have to die first. The smallpox vaccine was effective but they discovered that booster shots some years later were necessary - and eventually it was eradicated. There is no natural immunity to the common cold, which is caused by several different viruses, including other coronaviruses, which also makes creating a vaccine difficult, if not impossible. So we just keep getting colds.

[Siwsan]

4. I have a VERY strong immune system but I still 'hedge my bets' and get vaccinated

because I know there are things, out there, even stronger than my strong immune system's ability to fight them off. Like pneumonia. Like Covid. I've never had the flu but I am now getting vaccinated against that, too. I mean, why not?

[Ocelot II]

9. Definitely get the flu vaccine. Maybe flu doesn't suck as bad as covid but it does suck.

I got it years ago during one of the occasional pandemics, and I thought I'd have to get better in order to die. I was a healthy college student then; if I got it now, though I'm still healthy I'm old, and it might indeed kill me (it does kill a fair number of older people). I'm vaccinated against everything you can get vaccinated for.

[Siwsan]

10. I got my first flu vaccine since my days in the Navy, just last year

I really have never had the flu so I never bothered. My grandfather helped his priest give last rites to flu victims during the 'Spanish' flu and he never got sick, nor did my grandmother or any of their very young kids. So, maybe there's something genetic going on. BUT the whole Covid thing scared me (my brother had it and I lost a friend to it) so I figured it's time to start taking precautions.

[HariSeldon]

5. Xkcd on point

https://xkcd.com/2557/ (or for mobile): "Why would I want immunity?"

[Botany]

6. 'nuff said

"Natural immunity, or exposure to a disease that helps the immune system fight future infections, is better
than no immunity. But, with COVID-19, it’s not better than a vaccination."

This is one more con "they" are using to keep the virus going and mutating so "they" can blame
Joe Biden for the pandemic.

[guillaumeb]

7. Agreed.

It is all about preventing Democrats from accomplishing anything that might solve problems.

[BSdetect]

8. Death brings immunity.

[Ms. Toad]

11. AFAIK, this has been their mantra from the beginning.

[Wounded Bear]

13. That has been what I've seen...

[Red Pest]

12. Natural herd immunity is not a useful strategy...period...full stop.

Let's think about natural herd immunity - 1) once the herd is immune all is good, but to get there it will involve the vast majority of the herd to become ill and likely a significant number of deaths. 2) Even if the immunity is lifelong, the herd will have new members through birth. They are not immune until infected and recovered with some resulting deaths. This is repeated endlessly. So, the result is either endemic disease or periodic epidemic disease. Of course, we know that naturally acquired immunity to SARS-CoV2 is not lifelong. It lasts only a few months.

Smallpox (Variola) is a great historical example of herd immunity with periodic epidemics. That changed in 1796 with Edward Jenner and his work with cowpox (Vaccinia). We could vaccinate/immunize people against smallpox without illness or death. We had vaccine acquired herd immunity. As early as the 1840s, Massachesetts and other states began to require smallpox vaccinations. These efforts spread and there were national vaccine mandates. Eventually, there was a WHO-led campaign to eradicate this disease and in 1980, smallpox was declared eradicated. It is extinct. This was not possible by natural herd immunity. This required vaccine mandates.

The same is true for polio. Natural herd immunity did not & does not work. Vaccine mandates for polio immunization has almost eliminated polio world-wide. With some hard work by vaccinators, polio will be eradicated and made extinct in the near future.

While we will not eradicate SARS-CoV2, we can make it a low-level endemic disease that, like influenza, requires an annual booster. All we need is for people to act in a rational manner. Easier said (or written) than done, but the shots are free and they work.

[guillaumeb]

16. Welcome to DU, and the conversation.

And yes, many in the anti-vax crowd have no idea what herd immunity actually is.

And no idea what anecdotal evidence is.

Among many other things.

[Sympthsical]

14. That's why I only trust homeopathic Covid

It's a carefully measured brew of dust, pollen, and stupid gently agitated in zero sugar Mountain Dew.

[scarytomcat]

15. there is only one way to be sure not to get covid

that is to not inhale the virus, wear your quality mask

[Captain Zero]

17. It's more like NATURAL BULLLSHIT

More than five times more likely to get Covid than a fully immunized person.

Sounds like bullshit to me.

Just tell anyone peddling this, BULLSHIT.

[guillaumeb]

18. On a local Patch board, one person made the claim that natural immunity

is 25 times better than vaccine derived immunity.

His source, after I pressed for a citation, was a YouTube video starring noted epidemiologist Jim Jordan.

One literally cannot engage in dialogue with many of these people.