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News - Covid
LANSING/WAUSAU, Wis. — Numerous uncertainties and conflicting information continue to circulate around Covid-19 immunity, prompting Aspirus Health to release a statement clarifying the effectiveness of natural immunity versus vaccination.
Immunity is the body’s ability to protect an individual from getting sick when exposed to an infectious agent such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or fungus.
“You have two basic ways to become immune to something,” said Aspirus Hospitalist Dr. Adam Clements, who has been a hospitalist for six years and treating covid patients at the Aspirus Wausau Hospital since the pandemic hit. “You can acquire natural immunity by becoming infected with something. Or there’s acquired immunity that comes from the placenta from the mother, breast milk, antibody infusion or from a vaccine.”
“Our group has taken care of probably the largest number of Covid patients with the help of our ICU colleagues. So, people who are sick enough to be admitted who are not on a ventilator are taken care of by us. Being unvaccinated is number one, two and three on the list of risk factors.”
One of the biggest reasons patients at Aspirus cite for not being vaccinated is their belief in natural immunity.
“Natural immunity is great for mono. People don’t die from mononucleosis, the immunity lasts a long time, but [natural immunity is] not good for influenza. It mutates too fast… it’s not good for HIV because once you’ve got it, you’ve got it,” Clements said. “Which one is better really depends on the illness. For Covid, natural immunity is not an effective or wise strategy.”
Natural immunity from Covid-19 can be spotty, the news release said. A recent CDC study found that 36% of Covid-19 cases didn’t result in development of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
Additionally, natural immunity fades quicker than immunity from a Covid-19 vaccine.
Real-world studies indicate natural immunity’s short life. For example, 65% of people who start with a lower antibody baseline from infection completely lost their Covid-19 antibodies within 60 days.
The most recent Covid-19 news has focused on the omicron variant. New data show that the omicron variant is now considered the most dominant version of the coronavirus – making up 73% of new Covid-19 infections last week in the U.S.
“Omicron has a lot of mutations in the spike protein. And Omicron actually arose in South Africa or perhaps in other places in the setting of natural immunity,” Clements said. “It’s already demonstrated its ability to evade that. It’s here. Natural immunity doesn’t work. And it’s dangerous.”
There are still a lot of unknowns about the omicron variant, but health officials do know that it spreads very fast.
Getting COVID-19 is very risky and can result in long-term disease, lasting organ damage, hospitalization or even death. Even those with mild infection can spread it to others who may be at risk for severe illness and death.
The authorized and approved vaccines are safe and highly effective against severe illness or death due to Covid.
“I have never seen anyone die from a vaccine-related complication,” Dr. Clements said. “I see people die of Covid every single day at this hospital.”
Following Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approval, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is urging all eligible Michiganders ages 12 and up to get the Pfizer booster vaccine if they have received their primary series of Covid-19 vaccines. Currently, Pfizer is the only authorized vaccine for anyone age 5 through 18.
In addition, the booster is recommended to be taken five months after the primary series instead of six months. Children ages 5 to 11 who have moderately to severely weakened immune systems are encouraged to get an additional dose of the Pfizer vaccine 28 days after completion of their primary series.
As previously recommended, Michiganders with moderately to severely compromised immune systems should receive an additional dose of mRNA Covid-19 vaccine at least 28 days after a second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 or Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. This additional dose is intended to improve the response of people who are immunocompromised to their initial vaccine series.
“Vaccines are the way out of the pandemic, and we can further protect children ages 12 and up from Covid-19, which continues to surge in our state,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS chief medical executive. “Keeping our children safe includes getting them vaccinated and boosted, and this in turn will help keep them out of the hospital and alleviate the stress on our health care system.”
The Covid-19 Pfizer booster dose may be given with other vaccines, including the flu vaccine, at the same time.
Michiganders should bring their Covid-19 vaccine card or immunization record with them when getting their booster dose, which are available at any vaccine provider.
Downloadable immunization records are accessible free of charge via the Michigan Immunization Portal at michigan.gov/miimmsportal. Those without records in the portal, should contact their health care provider or local health department.
To date more than 6.3 million Michiganders aged 5 and up have gotten at least their first dose of one of the three Covid-19 vaccines. Michiganders are still in need of the extra protection provided by booster doses, including residents of long-term care facilities where outbreaks can spread quickly and extra protection is strongly recommended.
Covid-19 vaccinations are available through Aspirus Health and numerous pharmacies. To schedule a primary or booster dose of the Covid vaccine, visit vaccines.gov.
Boosters or initial vaccination series can be scheduled through Aspirus using the MyAspirus online patient portal or mobile app. Appointments are also available by calling the Aspirus Covid-19 Call Center at 844-568-0701 or 715-843-1454. (The Call Center has been experiencing high call volumes, so community members are encouraged to use MyAspirus for convenience.)