Why isn’t the pandemic over yet? Why did we require boosters? Authorities including the CDC are finally acknowledging that our vaccines provide protection for only 3-4 months at a time. I interview @fitterhappierAJ to go over possible reasons why.
I’ve been closely following @fitterhappierAJ’s takes on Covid and immunology. Initially I didn’t want to believe his predictions regarding T-cells, but they have stood the test of time and are now being confirmed by multiple lab studies
This is part of a lecture series by @masks4canada, to chart future directions of this pandemic. What can we do to change course, or at least ameliorate ill effects? Many of our political leaders want this to be over now, is this realistic? This is what we hope to address.
This is a simplified model of how our immune system works. We prevent infection with barriers like masks, and kill viruses when they get to our 2nd line of defence, our innate immunity and antibodies. If that fails, we have T-cells, which are efficient killers of infected cells.
What is the crux of Dr. AJ's arguments? We have been told that though the virus has mutated and is evading antibodies, our T-cells will save us. Problem is, these cells are themselves overactivated and damaged during infection, and start to damage you; the gets worse with age.
Papers that show continuing dysfunction in T-cells:
In Long Covid patients: nature.com/articles/s4159…
In severe Covid-19 disease: nature.com/articles/s4141…
Precipitates EBV reactivation:
doi.org/10.1016/j.cell…
Seen in lung damage on autopsy studies:
nature.com/articles/s4146…
The immune system depends on a fine balance and order to protect you. Invasion by a virus sets off your ‘innate immunity’ which sends signals, one of which is a chemical called Interferon, which ‘interferes’ with the virus. Your immune systems moves to quickly kill the invader.
Problem is, as @WmHaseltine explains in an excellent article series, that SARS2 is expert at hiding and preventing that signal from going out. Your cells are hijacked to create trillions of virus copies. T-cells go into overdrive to fight this.
forbes.com/sites/williamh…
SARS disables this essential early warning signal, Interferon. How severe a disease you get seems determined by how much this important early signal gets damaged.
nature.com/articles/s4159…
What happens is an overreaction; T-cells start killing healthy cells and each other, and you start depleting them, including your naive T-cells. Naive T-cells are a pool of cells that your body creates when you’re a child to handle future infections.
When these get depleted, it ages your immune system and likely leaves you open to future infections or cancers.
Low naive T-cells are associated with poor outcomes in this paper: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33010815/
This whole cascade seems to be prevented if you have antibodies circulating already that can sound the alarm on their own, which comes from recent infection or vaccination. Problem is your levels drop after 3-4 months. Maybe more boosters will keep them up longer.
This study from Singapore of Covid cases and close contacts shows that an antibody response was crucial in stopping infections:
doi.org/10.15252/emmm.…
A novel idea proposed by Dr. AJ is that naive T-cells act as a sink, a dampener on T-cell over-activation. He has a paper coming that will be explain in more detail, but this would go a long way to explain why age seems to the be predominant factor in death.
Younger people have more naive T-cells naturally, and if they act as a dampener on T-cell overactivation, would explain why those below 60 fare much better. The analogy is to carbon rods in stopping a nuclear chain reaction.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/artic…
UK and US agencies are recently noticing the short duration of vaccine derived immunity:
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
More and more papers are demonstrating poor long term outcomes post Covid infection. Many of these are in unvaccinated cohorts though, but the role of immune overactivation is becoming clearer and clearer
Given the the risks to all age groups, especially the risk of death to those above 60, caused by T-cell overactivation and depletion, our leaders need to plan to prevent as many infections as possible.
I personally am planning to stay under circulating antibody protection as long as possible via boosters. Antibodies will allow your body to coordinate a defense against SARS2, prevent innate immunity evasion, and hopefully prevent Long Covid.
We need to build safe common spaces, ventilation upgrades, rapid tests and generally protecting as many as possible while restoring life to as close to near normal conditions as is possible.
This includes planning for surges and lulls in case numbers, where society can periodically recharge from high risk periods.
The alternative, where we do nothing and pretend things are over, is a dark future in which life expectancy is shortened, and many of us will not get to enjoy the fruits of our labours and a healthy old age
This is already being noticed by the insurance industry, where life insurance claims for those 18-64 are up 40%, an age group usually in good health.
thecentersquare.com/indiana/indian…
What is the solution? Improved vaccines are not far away, including intranasal vaccines. These have the benefit of being able to train your innate immunity, and the cells that line your nose and lungs to fight SARS2, and prevent it from evading immunity.
cell.com/cell/fulltext/…
I would caution against removing all pandemic protections. Much of the decision making is guided by political considerations and, in the case of Blue states, by focus group research, not sound science. It is not 'Mission Accomplished' unfortunately
nytimes.com/2022/02/10/pod…
Again, a link to the interview is here:
A transcript of the interview can be found here: docs.google.com/document/d/1-5…
A 32% increase in life insurance claims at Hartford Insurance Group:
Reupping this, sadly it looks like many places in the West are not preserving even basic measures. The results will be predictable, especially in those over 60 without regular boosters. Based on what you've learned in this thread, you now know better.
A fantastic thread discussing the value of Intranasal vaccines, mucosal immunity and long lived memory B cells:
An interesting treatment that could potentially reverse immune system aging: nature.com/articles/d4158…
More verification:
And @fitterhappierAJ’s paper has just dropped! Hopefully will try to come up with a thread to explain it.
Some clarification:
Right on cue:
Reinfection leads to increased ICU admission in this study; immune system exhaustion would be a good explanation why:
More discussion on Superantigens and Superantigen-like motifs here:
Immune cell derangements and Long Covid:
Others are questioning if T-cells alone can fight off Covid without antibodies to help:
More evidence of viral suppression of immune activation and innate immunity that we reference in the video and this thread:
It doesn't take much to tip into exponential spread, when the R0 is close to 1...
A grand unified theory on the origins of MIS-C as well as severe Covid, featuring the Superantigen. Reinforces the point that we just can’t coexist safely with a super contagious superantigen carrying virus.
Links to earlier papers by @fitterhappierAJ that elaborate on this:
It's very important that @fitterhappierAJ be properly acknowledged for discovering this mechanism >2 years ago.
We have a sick scientific establishment that worships authority and pathologizes new ideas and directions. This is a centuries old problem.
An older paper from China, in the pre-vaccine era, showing T cell depletion after infection. Could explain why they’ve been so adamant on controlling Covid infection. There are geopolitical stakes here, it seems, that leaders in the West are scarcely aware of.
More immunologists are speaking out about the serious derangement that happens with SARS2. This individual had 4 vaccines, and still developed acute Covid related cardiomyopathy and heart failure. This is simply not something you can endure 4x a year.
Wow! Public Health Ontario, in its latest assessment, strongly recommends bringing back public health measures in light of the prospect of recurrent, repeated SARS2 infections, and the prospect of immune system dysregulation. @fitterhappierAJ
More evidence, as @fitterhappierAJ predicted, that your T cells don’t do well post SARS2 infection, especially if you’re older than 50:
Note the exhausted T-cells in this excellent study of Long Covid by @VirusesImmunity
Death-rate estimates from @MoriartyLab are consistent with @fitterhappierAJ's Naive T-cell hypothesis. If you're older than 50-60, your wisest strategy is to get boosted, avoid infection as much as possible, and advocate for masks/better indoor air quality
While a new study does not find Superantigenic activity from the spike protein itself, @fitterhappierAJ argues this activity could be coming from viral induced reactivation of latent viruses like EBV, explaining post-SARS2 T-cell exhaustion and depletion:
Great explanation of @fitterhappierAJ’s theory of age-related decline in T-cell effectiveness against SARS2 by @dr_kkjetelina. If you’re over 50, boosters are a good thing to get.
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/why-older-pe…
As predicted, subsequent infections of SARS2 results in greater, cumulative pathology along nearly every body system. And remember, these are survivors, as the most susceptible have already died.
Excellent and detailed profile of @fitterhappierAJ‘s work in @TheTyee. You may need to read it 3-4X but you’ll never take SARS2 lightly again once you do:
thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/…
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