T-cell immunity causes a paradigm shift

A bat in a henhouse

(send to The Guardian at 6-7-2021, no answer)

There is an outright war going on right now in science: Two opposing camps both basically accusing the other side of mass murder:
Is mass vaccination hurting our herd immunity or is a public debate about this hurting vaccination rates?

The ‘bat in the henhouse’ is the article in Cell by Swedish Karolinska Institute, prooving T-cell immunity for Covid-19 not only was twice as much as antibodies detected in a population, but much to their surprise it was the asymptomatically infected that had Tcell immunity, without antibodies.

Implications of this study now prove to be far-reaching, beyond the initial good news that we have twice as much herd immunity. Karolinkska’s surprising findings could put everything we know about vaccinations against respiratory disease in another perspective.

Current vaccines -especially the mRNA vaccines- are not creating a real Tcell response. If they do it is only against one spike, not against the entire virus.

Are mass vaccination programs hurting our Tcell herd immunity? Vaccines prevent illness for the individual with antibodies, but are not delivering on the needed transformation of white blood cells into killer T-cells. Tcell immunity can beat more variants and is long-lasting. Are we trading a broader natural herd immunity for a quick fix that will keep the virus around?

We see high profile scientists saying contradictory things about reaching herd immunity: both accusing the other of doing more harm than good .
Pro:

• On Youtube, Dr. Mike Yeadon (Vice president of Pfizer until 2011) in ‘’Planet Lockdown #5”  is almost crying out ‘’Antibodies are nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Herd immunity in respiratory diseases needs T-cells.

• Great Barrington Declaration ”(…) build up immunity through natural infection, while better protecting with vaccines those who are at highest risk. We call this Focussed Protection.”

• Sam Brokken. “Natural immunity is better. If we vaccinate less we built a stronger herd immunity’’

• Flamish petition of 3000 researchers and medics to the government and media. ‘The efficacy of vaccines is judged by antibodies. This is a misrepresentation of the facts”

• “Vaccinating children is depriving them of gaining long-lasting real immunity. It takes Tcells to make memory cells and add them to their innate immunity, but vaccines ruin this process”. Dr. Theo Schetters, Dr. Sam Brokken, Dr. Geert vanden Bossche.

Contra:

• Jaap van Dissel ‘’To vaccinate children between the ages of 12 to 18  will reduce R by 15%. This will help the spread during coming winter”.

• “To put all unvaccinated people on one island is the ideal solution,’’ Dr. Ab Osterhaus.

• “People refusing vaccination are the cause of the shutdown of the economy".

• “A high vaccination rate is protecting the herd, anti-vaxers are selfish and cause harm”

Both teams are accusing the other of causing an ideal Corona mutation playground. The mass-vax team because of a low vaccination rate is causing the virus to go around longer and have more time to mutate. The focussed-vax team says that a mass injection of defense against the same exact spike is asking for mutation: we need the diversity of Tcells blocks this.

When fundamentally new research result shakes the scientific world, under normal circumstances, this is food for thought: a feast for the real scientist. Even if you are sure the other team is completely in the wrong: just having to justify your own view is sharpening your mind and pen. There is a new finding of T-cells. Now what?

But there is no fair scientific debate. Scientists who are speaking out in favor of the Tcell thesis are shadowbanned or canceled from platforms. LinkedIn Youtube Facebook and the media are following WHO guidelines. In the midst of a pandemic, Big Tech platforms took it upon themselves to ban fake news. Distrust, division and chaos of anti-vaxxers are the greatest threat to the solution. Only consensus and building trust will do the massive job of jabbing the world, the only way out. Everything else is a threat.
The other team says: muting a scientific debate, hushing virologists and doctors -of all people- during a pandemic is the threat. Science is the only way out, and science is made of feedback.

Dr. Yeadon’s colleagues don’t speak to him anymore.  Academic hospitals or universities’ good names are attached to the names of their researchers. Publically stating things like ‘’natural immunity is better’’ could jeopardize the institute’s funding and put it in the anti-vaxxer category.

Natural immunity isn’t always better. There are vaccines that do illicit T-cells. (example) And there are vaccines that can give sterile immunity with antibodies. …..  (nature article… ) and wipe out an entire disease with mass vaccination. Before Corona, there was an established paradigm that said antibody vaccines are the golden standard and at the time with good reason. However, thanks to this pandemic we now know so much more about the immune system. And the new knowledge is unexpected. What do the latest Tcell research outcomes mean for the fundaments of medical science?

Don’t lose sight of the ball. In the midst of a pandemic, we deal with emotions and powerplay to get things done on a massive scale. But that is killing science during a paradigm shift.