VACCINES, IMMUNE FUNCTION & “NATURAL” HERD IMMUNITY!
Let’s talk about how “natural herd immunity” developed over time in the past.
In the millennia before modern science and medical therapies were created, when a particular population of humans encountered a new, communicable, infectious agent, that pathogen (virus, bacteria, fungus) could spread through the population without any restraint. Since every human is genetically different, all of our immune systems are slightly different. That meant and means that different individuals will have different susceptibilities to these infectious agents. Some people would be “very” resistant to the agent, others would be “moderately” or “mildly” resistant; and still others would be moderately or even “extremely” SUSCEPTIBLE to the infectious agent! The more susceptible a person is to a particular pathogen, the more likely they are to die from an infection with that agent. Death or severe illness is made even more likely if the infected person has other “co-morbidities” (i.e. chronic diseases/concurrent infections) when they are challenged by the new pathogen.
Over time, the infectious agent would kill off the “more susceptible” individuals before their immune systems could mount an adequate response to destroy and clear the pathogen from their bodies. That meant that a particular population gradually “selected” for people who would get infected with the pathogen, but were able to eventually mount an adequate immune response and thus, survive the infection! THAT IS WHAT “HERD IMMUNITY” IS — IT MEANS YOU’VE KILLED OFF THE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE PEOPLE AND LEFT ONLY THE “RESISTANT” ONES. This is what happened with viruses like Measles and Small Pox in Europe. By the time Europeans disastrously stumbled and bumbled into North and South America and the Caribbean, the Europeans had “herd immunity” against these infectious agents, but the indigenous peoples living in the Americas DID NOT!
As a result, these familiar and common diseases which Europeans usually survived, DECIMATED Native American and indigenous populations killing off HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people, and clearing the way for European conquest of the Americas! So when people talk about allowing “natural herd immunity” to develop to Covid — whether they know it or not — they are suggesting that we allow Covid to kill off the susceptible people in the country and just leave those who are “naturally resistant”. That is a ghastly and inhuman proposition! Such actions would/should be unacceptable in a just, caring, and compassionate society. They would result in the potentially preventable deaths of millions of people.
“Vaccines” were developed by using a “process” (methods of producing vaccines vary) that exposes an individual’s immune system to specific — but non-infectious — parts of a pathogen in a way that allows the immune system to develop neutralizing antibodies against the agent w/o having to contend with an overwhelming, potentially fatal, generalized infection. This way, when the vaccinated individual actually did encounter the “fully infectious” pathogen, they would already be protected by neutralizing antibodies. In this way the pathogen would be contained, destroyed and eliminated from the vaccinated individual’s body before it could overwhelm and kill the person.
“Acquired” herd immunity occurs when enough people in a given population have been “vaccinated” that the likelihood “susceptible” (unvaccinated/unexposed) individuals will encounter or become exposed to the infectious (and potentially deadly) pathogen is reduced to near “zero”. Thus, person-to-person transmission is reduced/prevented and the epidemic/pandemic comes to an end or is prevented from ever getting started.