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Immunity Debt: The Conspiracy Theory Elevated to Popular Pseudoscience That Is Making Children Sick

It is time to retire this dangerous and misleading concept and focus on the real science

https://lilscience.substack.com/p/immunity-debt-the-conspiracy-theory

The concept of “Immunity Debt” was adopted to explain global surges in respiratory virus illness during the 2022-23 cold and flu season. The problem is, it was only recently invented and there is no evidence that supports “Immunity Debt” as being responsible for our earlier and more severe respiratory virus seasons.

The American Association of Health Care Journalists stated the following in December of 2022:
• “Immunity debt” is not an established epidemiological term and is problematically being used to mean different phenomena.
• The current caseload of flu, RSV and COVID-19 infections is not occurring because people’s immune systems were weakened from lack of exposure to pathogens during mask-wearing and social distancing.
• Accurate use of the term immunity debt (or in some cases is called “immunity gap”) refers to the idea that masking and social distancing temporarily held off infections, which are now occurring as population behavior allows the greater spread of pathogens.
• A problematic aspect of using the term is its implication that a disease must be “paid back,” which is inaccurate.
• The best journalistic practice is not to use the term “immunity debt” at all except in clarifying how it’s being misused.

What they missed is the tremendous surge in respiratory virus infections does have a scientifically valid explanation: SARS-CoV-2 infection causes immune system dysfunction.

As we face another early increase in respiratory virus infections and heightened severity of these infections with “white lung syndrome” filling pediatric emergency rooms, finally, the hypothesis of “Immunity Debt” is finally falling flat.

The term “Immunity Debt” started in the shadowy realm of COVID-19 conspiracy theories as a justification for why people should not wear masks to avoid infection with respiratory viruses.
Note the wildly flawed logic of simultaneously proclaiming that masks don’t work but also work so well they cause “Immunity Debt”.

“Immunity Debt” surged in media popularity during the 2022-2023 winter respiratory virus season which was characterized by an early and massive surge of Influenza, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 infections dubbed the “Triple-demic”.

“Immunity Debt” was an especially convenient explanation in that it ignored the dangers of repeat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Many were encouraged not to mask and proceed as if nothing was wrong, elevating the concept from conspiracy theory to popular pseudoscience taken as physician-backed fact by parents across the world.

Here are some basic facts about the immune system and virus transmission:
• Not being exposed to a virus does not “weaken” your immune system.
• If you are immunocompromised you are more likely to become sick when exposed to a pathogen.
• If you are immunocompromised and become sick, your course of disease is more likely to be severe and more likely to be medically attended (a doctor visit, urgent care visit or hospitalization).
• If you are immunocompromised you are likely to have higher virus load because viruses can replicate more easily in hosts with damaged immune systems.
• Higher viral loads increase in the ability to transmit the virus to others.
• If a population is generally suffering from a high rate of people being immunocompromised more people will become sick when a virus is in circulation. (For example, viral infections spread rapidly in nursing homes because as we age our immune system function declines).

Masks are community care❤️‍🔥😷 free masks: maskbloc.org

• Remember: covid is not over, 50% of infections are asymptomatic, minimum 10% of infections end up in long COVID, re-infections wreck us, COVID spreads and moves like cigarette smoke, think of the people around you and you as people who are all day smoking, it becomes more visual to understand how COVID moves.
• There is no way to “train” the immune system because it is not a muscle. there is a common misconception that exposure to harmful germs strengthens the immune system. viral diseases like COVID, flu, measles weaken the immune system, leaving the possibility of lasting damage. The reality is that you don't build your immunity with repeated infections, vaccines strengthen the immune system by teaching it to recognize pathogens without all the risks. Focusing on infection prevention is key.
• Rapid antigen tests give many false negatives.
• Solving the pandemic was never in the cards for the capitalist world.
• Instead, the explicit goal of the ruling class has been to make the pandemic simply disappear from public perception. Any reminder of the existence of a highly-transmissible, highly-dangerous, mass-disabling disease could trigger panic, or worse: organized, militant labor action. Averting this crisis required a careful campaign of culture-crafting; the people themselves needed to become convinced that there was no reason to fight. Consent for protracted mass infection needed to be manufactured.

“The cold truth of the matter is that the motive behind COVID minimization is greed and social control. (…) Solving the pandemic was never in the cards for the capitalist world. Instead, the explicit goal of the ruling class has been to make the pandemic simply disappear from public perception.” Let Them Eat Plague! http://clarion.unity-struggle-unity.org/

#MaskUp #WearAMask #CovidRealist #CovidIsAirbone #LongCovid #YallMasking #DisabledLiberation #DisabilityJustice