To Jab or Not to Jab: Vaccination or Natural Immunity

This is a post addressing the most common fears and concerns regarding the Covid19 vaccines. I am not a doctor or scientist so it should be obvious that my personal opinion does not really matter. The information in this post is from scientific sources and medical professionals, not me, not a social media celebrity, not someone who plays a doctor on tv.

This is for my intelligent, busy, truth-seeking friends that care deeply about their health and want to make a well-informed decision about the vaccine. Relevant links to journal articles are hyperlinked so you can also verify the information directly. This post is simply to summarize the data in one easy place.

It is not my intention to force a singular choice on anyone. I trust people can make the right decision when given truthful information.

This post is also not about mandates. That is a legal issue I do not attempt to address here. This post is about helping you make the best decision for your body in order to survive and thrive through this pandemic.

Moving on, the questions:

What are the choices for vaccines? Currently, there are 3 vaccines offered in the United States. Two vaccines, Pfizer’s Comirnaty and Moderna’s Spikevax, are manufactured using the relatively newer technology called mRNA. I say relatively newer because this technology has been studied for over 40 years, starting back in 1978 in mice. Additionally, the mRNA vaccine technology is being studied for exciting potential uses in the treatments of cancers, Zika, rabies, and other infectious diseases (Table 2).

The third vaccine (Janssen/JnJ) is the regular adenovirus type that has been used in the past with typical vaccines like polio, measles, and influenza.

What exactly is in the vaccine? Starting at the beginning, if you want to know exactly what is in your vaccine, this public information is available on the package insert. And no, there is no metal or tracking device (I don’t think I needed to say that but just in case). Just to review some terminology, Lipid nanoparticles are basically tiny ionic (positively charged) lipids (fats) that help the (negatively charged) mRNA get to the cell surface without disintegrating the mRNA.

Pfizer ingredients, page 14, Section 11 DESCRIPTION.

Moderna ingredients, pg 28, section 6, What Spikevax contains.

Janssen ingredients page 20, section 13 DESCRIPTION.

If I am proactive in strengthening my immune system, why would I need a vaccine also? Strengthing your immune system is always a great idea when viruses abound. I won’t go down the tangent of why we should always be eating healthier and exercising. A healthy body is better able to manage a robust immune response. The problem is some times even an optimally tuned immune system is still not enough to functionally defeat CV19.

People that made it through the Alpha version of Covid19 may not do as well with Delta. That’s because the viral load of exposure is linked to the severity of the disease, and Delta sheds a much higher load of the virus. This may explain why so many young healthy people are DYING from Delta which was a relatively rare occurrence with the Alpha variant.

This disease doesn’t just kill. It also maims. If you are not one of the older, immunocompromised types that were originally pegged as easy targets for CV19 complications, you are still not “safe”. You can also become a long hauler. These are symptoms that last for months, in some cases, years. Fatigue, muscle weakness, shortness of breath, heart issues, neurological issues, depression, insomnia, and anxiety, to name a few. This Facebook group is a support group for people with long-haul Covid. It has been eye-opening to see the extent of suffering that people are struggling with months after recovering from even mild cases of Covid.

If I’m young and healthy do I have to worry about CV19? During the summer of 2021, the disease was highest in people age 20-29. The news is replete with stories of young people dying from CV19 because they thought they were young and healthy enough to fight it off. Some people are. Some are not. And the problem is, you don’t know which group you fall into until it’s too late. Maybe down the road, there will be a simple genetic test that can predict how your particular genetics will handle this virus, but for now, we just don’t know. This means you are literally gambling with your life if you face CV19 without any immune preparation. Sadly, there are SO many stories of young, healthy people that regretted their original confidence in dealing with the disease.

I’m just going to wait this out until we have herd immunity. Herd immunity, if it’s even possible, is a long way off. Epidemiologists think we will have more of an endemic relationship with Covid, like measles, or whooping cough. It is still possible to get these diseases today but with vaccinations, it is less common. But as rates drop for vaccinations the diseases reemerge.

Eventually, everyone will have immunity, either from natural exposure or vaccination. This means you need to make a proactive decision as to how you want to acquire immunity to Covid. Do you want to take your chances and hope that your case of Covid is mild with no long-term side effects or do you want to get a vaccine?

But aren’t the side effects of vaccines so much worse than Covid? You can decide for yourself. Here are the possible long-term side effects of Covid, heart, lung, and brain damage are among them. Here are the most common side effects for the Moderna vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine, and the JnJ vaccine.

Moderna and Pfizer have reported a small risk of myocarditis in younger men., (this is also a side effect of CV19 but at a much higher rate). If you fall into this category and are concerned that this may affect you but don’t like the odds of CV19 disease, you might consider the JnJ vaccine instead.

The JnJ vaccine has a low risk of blood clots in women under 50, (this is also a side effect of CV19 but at a much higher rate). If you fall into this category, you may want to consider the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine instead as this has not been a reported side effect with mRNA vaccines.

Fortunately, there are several options for protection. You can choose the one that seems best for your biology based on the experience of millions of people that have already gotten their vaccinations.

But what’s more important to look at is the risk of these side effects compared to the side effects of the actual CV19 disease. This study from the New England Journal of Medicine, FIGURE 4 , shows what was seen in vaccinated patients (in blue) compared to CV19 diseased patients (in yellow). Note that swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) were the most common side effect that was more prevalent in the vaccinated group. Those infected with CV19 had a significantly higher risk for kidney injury, arrhythmia, DVT, intracranial hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, myocarditis, pericarditis, and pulmonary embolism.

My doctor, chiropractor, friend, or mom says vaccines are dangerous. There is a lot of well-intended misinformation about these vaccines. Someone may be amazing at practicing medicine, advising on preventative health, or counseling you in other areas of your life but that does not mean they are also amazing at understanding medical studies.

Even when studies are cited as proof of concept, they can cherry-pick the data or use studies that are not placebo-controlled, peer-reviewed, or reproducible. This means if you follow that advice you are the lab-rat. Once again, this means you are gambling with your health.

Get your medical advice from people that have studied medicine. Additionally, ask your doctor what hospitals they have privileges at and what have they seen firsthand at those hospitals. You want to get your information as close to the source as possible.

Lastly, if someone is citing a unique, antidotal reason to do something opposite of what the majority of science shows, be skeptical- no matter how much you hope it is true.

I am relying on medications to treat Covid if I happen to get really sick. This is an evolving practice. What is currently used for treatment is changing as new therapeutics are researched and implemented. Two of the most common options that are used today are Remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies.

Remdesivir is FDA approved, monoclonal antibodies have emergency authorization for use. Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made molecules that act as substitute antibodies. This is similar to getting a vaccine after the infection but the problem is, they must be administered in the hospital in mild to moderate cases within 10 days of exposure. The other problem is the cost.

Both the vaccines and the monoclonal antibodies are currently covered by our taxes, through our government. The vaccine costs $20 and the monoclonal antibodies range from $1200-$2400 per infusion. That also doesn’t account for the hospital costs, the time required to infuse the treatment, the burden on the public healthcare system. When patients are choosing not to vaccinate because they expect to be cared for in a hospital this means other patients with acute situations such as cancer screenings and elective surgeries get sidelined.

When someone says their vaccination status is personal, it’s not entirely honest when they are part of a larger community that will be impacted by their decision. The amount of time, energy, and money required to address a sick person are vastly more than preventative vaccinations. As Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

What are the benefits of getting a vaccine? Aside from the obvious protection against the 26 spike proteins of the Covid virus infecting many organs of the body, the vaccine is just 2 spike proteins injected into the deltoid muscle, localized to that muscle. This video, starting at 19:58, is an interview with Pulmonary and Critical Care Specialist, Dr. Roger Seheult, and Ph.D. biochemist, Rhonda Patrick. In it she explains in detail the difference between natural infection vs protection from vaccines.

The mRNA vaccines are controlled, limited, and localized exposure to just 2 modified spike proteins compared to uncontrolled, unlimited exposure to the 26 CV19 spike proteins of natural Covid infection. The outcomes of the vaccine are more predictable than the outcomes of natural infection. As in all of life, some things are unpredictable, so why not tip the scales in your favor?

Lastly, studies show an unexpected side effect of the vaccine. Improved mental health! During this pandemic, depression, anxiety, and suicide have all increased. We are social beings. Isolating and covering our faces takes a toll on our mental health. Being able to remove the masks and socialize with loved ones without fear of spreading illness or death is a feeling of freedom that I wish for all of us.

Thanks to remarkable advances in science, millions of people participating in clinical trials, governments clearing away bureaucracies that would normally slow research, tax dollars that paid for the building and manufacturing of vaccines before we knew if they would even work, we were able to get an exceptionally effective vaccine in a miraculous amount of time. If you are waiting for God to rescue you from this situation, make sure you’re not passing up the rescue boat that has been sent.