"Maybe it would be better to catch the 'rona and get it over with, now that I'm fully vaccinated?" I wondered.
After all, isn't it just a cold in fully immunised people? And once I've had it, won't I have acquired immunity that will mean I won't get sick at all if I get it again?
That's certainly what I'd have hypothesised from four decades of frontline immunology research into T and B lymphocytes.
But for SARS-CoV-2, those assumptions appear flawed.
Last month, US researchers shared the preliminary results of a study looking at the impacts of SARS-CoV-2 infection and reinfection in a cohort of more than 5 five million American veterans.The researchers examined the health records of more than 250,000 people who had been infected once; 36,000 people who had been infected twice; and 2,000 people who had been infected three times.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2022-07-29/covid-19-three-myths-challenge-lies-ahead/101274980
For those of us who have doubts about our own beliefs its worthwhile to fact check with people who truly know.
one thing that shook me up a bit is the accusation of organ damage with repeated infections of omicron BA.5 particularly.
I hadnt been aware of this but it certainly makes sense as the omicron attacks organs and endothelial tissues, this includes the brain through vascular clotting and damage to the tissue of the arterial wall (endothelial and connective tissue), but also neuronal damage.
and each infection does its own damage.... these issues aren't symptoms that one directly feels which go away when the body feels better, but are sequelae or consequences of the organic damage to the body.
this helps to explain long covid too.
