Nature's Vaccine

Did you know that there could be a trillion coronaviruses in one saliva droplet? That’s 1,000,000,000,000 viruses in just one droplet. Not only does the number of these infinitesimally tiny viruses boggle the imagination, but also, they are continually reproducing and mutating. 

 

Considering the size of the microscopic virus, its journey across six feet from one human being to another is equivalent to a human space flight not just to the edge of the solar system, or even the edge of our galaxy, but to the very extremity of the universe. Moreover, the journey is filled with many dangers such as the ultraviolet rays of the sun.

 

The journey is so long and so dangerous that it requires human assistance. We enable the virus by constantly touching our noses and mouths and introducing the invading army into our bodies. Masks could help in this regard but since most of us use them improperly, they have obviously not stopped the virus.

 

Thank goodness we have an immune system that immediately springs into action when it detects the invading horde. Our mouths and nasal passages are full of warrior cells and bacteria without whose protection we would have long ago become extinct. 

 

When the coronavirus enters our system, the battle begins. Like any war it can cause great damage while it is waging. What we call symptoms--sniffles, coughing, fever, and fatigue-- are the results of the battle. We know by now that 99% of the time our immune system wins the battle. *

 

We also know that most of those who have died have been elderly. Some have suggested that our immune systems get weaker with age, but others have suggested that they get stronger after a lifetime of fighting various diseases, and that they produce an overly aggressive response to the invader that leads to inflammation, pneumonia, and death.

 

Last year I read an article that claimed that our immune system does not get weaker or stronger with age, but a factor that mitigates or controls the immune reaction does get weaker with age. It’s as if to prevent a Russian threat to the Ukraine, we launch a preventative nuclear strike.

 

Some scientists have argued that controlling the inflammatory response of our immune system against the virus is the way to handle the pandemic. Vaccines do not prevent us from getting infected but are designed as a kind of early warning system for the immune system, and thus prevent a deadly overreaction. **

 

In the opinion of my scientific advisor, a master biologist, the Omicron variant might be a blessing in disguise with the potential to be much more effective than any vaccine or booster. He had this to say in a recent email exchange in which he calls it "Nature's Vaccine."

 

The vaccines are RNA based which cause us to produce a protein (Spike Protein) which the Covid virus uses to attach to our cells.  However, a slight change in the spike protein due to a virus mutation could render the vaccine useless as we are seeing with Omicron.  I call Omicron "nature's vaccine" because our immune system will mount a response not only to the spike protein but to other vulnerable parts of the virus. This should produce long lasting immunity not only to Omicron but to similar Covid viruses.  So far, baring comorbidities, the Omicron seems to be mild, in fact, probably even milder than the booster vaccine!  It is more contagious and therefore probably will lead to herd immunity.  I do not buy the idea that the reason Omicron is milder is due to the fact that people have been vaccinated. To me, it is milder as the virus is going through evolution where it wants to remain "alive" and the best way to do that is not to kill its host.

Viruses have been manipulating human as well as all of the other organisms' DNA since life began on this planet. This manipulation has fostered the evolution of life on the  planet. Who knows? Covid-19 survivors and their offspring may now possess protection against an even more potentially lethal, future virus. Also, humans have over 140,000 different varieties of viruses living in our digestive system whose main purpose is to control the bacterial population of our digestive system which in turn is vital for well-being. We could not possibly survive or evolve without viruses.

 

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*Note: As of January 1, 2022, there were over 55,000,000 reported case in the USA, and 847,041 deaths from Covid. Dividing deaths by cases leads to a survival rate of over 98%. However, most authorities agree that many cases have not been reported. Even though some estimates have been higher, if we just multiply the number of cases by 2, the survival rate is over 99%.

 

** Note: See the call for “focused protection” in the Great Barrington Declaration by a team of scientists and medical professionals that has drawn support from all over the world. Focused protection means concentrating on treating those most at risk, and not trying to keep the young and healthy from merely getting sick with symptoms that are rarely more serious than flu or the common cold.