Op-Ed: On the vaccine and vaccine mandates

It is very awkward for me to do this, but to lend credibility to what I have written below, I will state my background. I have a doctorate degree in immunology from The University of Notre Dame. I spent a career at the National Institutes of Health and in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry studying the regulation of the immune response. I have authored or co-authored over 70 scientific publications on the same. Enough said.

In the past two years, I have spent hundreds of hours monitoring and studying scientific reports on the COVID virus, and the immunities that develop following either vaccination with the mRNA vaccines or following an infection with the virus. I now feel compelled to state some facts based on our understanding about what the immune system can do and what it cannot do. There are many differences between vaccine-induced and infection-induced immunities. What I have written here pertains to only one aspect of those differences---namely, the ability of those two very different immune responses (Vaccine vs. Infection) to reduce subsequent transmission of the virus to non-immune people. This is an important issue because the prevention of virus spread is the primary reason for vaccine mandates.

It has been well-understood for decades and all modern immunology textbooks make it clear that we have two almost completely "compartmentalized" and independently-functioning segments of the immune system. This "compartmentalization" has profound implications for the question about the vaccine and virus spread.

The first segment or compartment is the immune system of, principally, the blood stream, lymph nodes and vessels and spleen. This is called the Systemic Immune System (SIS). The SIS is designed to prevent/reduce infection, for the most part, of the internal organs. The SIS is stimulated to produce the circulating antibodies that appear in the blood stream after a systemic infection (including a clinical COVID infection) or after the administration of an intramuscular vaccine like the COVID vaccine.

The second segment of the immune system is dedicated to the linings of both the airways (nasal passages, trachea, bronchi, alveoli, etc.) and the intestines. This second immune system is actually larger in immune capacity than the SIS. Putting the intestinal lining aside and focusing on the airways, the linings are made up of so-called mucosal cells (secrete mucous) that have their own private ("compartmentalized") set of immune cells (lymphocytes) right there in the linings of the airways. These mucosal-associated lymphocytes provide the first line of defense following an airway infection like COVID. When the airway is exposed to the airborne pathogen, these lymphocytes are activated and produce the protective antibodies which are then introduced into the secretions of the mucosal cells. The airway is literally bathed in the locally-produced anti-COVID antibodies.

The scientific name for the protein antibodies is immunoglobulin or Ig. There are various classes of antibodies; IgM, IgG, IgE and IgA. The anti-COVID antibodies in the mucosal secretions of the airways are a specialized form of IgA and are called secretory IgA or sIgA. This is the key antibody type that inactivates the virus in the airways and therefore reduces the possibility of further infection beyond the airways via the blood stream as well as transmission of the virus from the immune person to the non-immune.

The Main Point: The critical fact to understand is that the COVID vaccine administered as an intra-muscular shot does not effectively (if, at all) stimulate the mucosal lymphocytes in the airways to produce anti-COVID sIgA. This is the "compartmental" aspect of our immune systems. There are many scientific reports demonstrating the presence of anti-COVID sIgA in the airway secretions of people who have recovered from a COVID infection, and never been vaccinated. The anti-COVID sIgA is even found in the saliva of such people. I have not been able to find a single scientific report demonstrating the presence of anti-COVID sIgA in the airway secretions of people who have simply been vaccinated.

In other words, in the absence of these sIgA antibodies, there is no scientific reason to think that the COVID vaccine will reduce the spread of the infection from the airways. Transmission of the virus to un-infected people must come from the expelled virus (as in a cough or a sneeze) in the airways of the infected person and the vaccine does not have the ability to reduce the "viral load" in those airways for the reasons presented above. When the clinical data backing up this conclusion became obvious, the CDC reluctantly and very quietly changed the definition of "Vaccine" to be consistent with the limitations of the COVID vaccine. Gone was the notion that the vaccine could prevent infection and therefore transmission to the non-infected. Now, the description of what the vaccine can do is basically "reduce symptoms".

Why, then do we continue to hear the harangue from public officials that "vaccine mandates are needed to stop the spread of the virus"? It makes no sense!

Some wise person once said, "A lie told once is a lie. A lie told a thousand times from a hundred different sources becomes the truth".