Local resident Sue Hubbard has spoken to a number of people about Covid’s effect on our immune system, but has been met with skepticism. However, she said it’s important to consider research showing that people are more at risk for other kinds of illnesses after Covid as a result of potential long-ranging impacts of the virus on the immune system.
Hubbard points to a recent article in the Daily Kos that states: “The world is nearly four years into the COVID-19 pandemic, but how the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages human lives, both in the short term and across a span of years, is still becoming clear. Earlier this month, a study in Lancet showed that 54 percent of those infected in the first months of the pandemic were still experiencing symptoms over three years later.”
The author, Mark Sumner, concludes that the study, like almost all news surrounding Covid-19, isn’t getting even a fraction of the attention it deserves as media outlets, businesses and the government join a collective effort to ignore the truth about this virus. But he says there is another series of studies that should be getting even more attention: “COVID-19 can have a direct negative effect on the immune system. These results suggest that surges in other diseases in the wake of the pandemic may not be due to ‘immunity debt,’ as many had earlier suggested, but could be spurred by direct damage to the immune systems of those who had symptomatic and even asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. That includes children.”
The article states that the theory that quarantining made so many other illnesses surge is not correct; the uptick in illnesses has been caused by Covid’s damage to the immune system.
“I run into people who are surprised Covid is still around,” Hubbard said. “Few people are being cautious, and the very low rates of vaccination this year really concern me.” According to the government, only about 20 percent of people have taken the most recent Covid vaccine.
Hubbard points to additional research that shows keeping up with vaccinations greatly decreases the chance of long Covid.
Scientific American reports that there is a growing consensus emerging that receiving multiple doses of the Covid vaccine before an initial infection can dramatically reduce the risk of long-term symptoms. “Although the studies disagree on the exact amount of protection, they show a clear trend: the more shots in your arm before your first bout with Covid, the less likely you are to get long Covid,” states an article Jan. 3 written by Shannon Ovid. “One meta-analysis of 24 studies published in October, for example, found that people who’d had three doses of the Covid vaccine were 68.7 percent less likely to develop long Covid compared with those who were unvaccinated.”
Dr. Dan Bell said he has recently seen several patients with long Covid.
“They struggle with brain fog, muscle aches, fatigue, and some still have respiratory difficulties,” Bell said. “One patient has abnormal blood counts with very high red blood cell counts that were never present before. I’ve not been able to measure or see any distinct information that shows their immune systems are impaired, but there’s no question that their bodies are still struggling with the aftereffects of the Covid. You would intuitively think it would affect the immune system, but I certainly don’t have any information that corroborates that.”
Bell personally has had Covid three times now. He was fully vaccinated so each of the cases were quite mild.
“I don’t believe I have any lasting effects from them and certainly can’t quantitate any long Covid in my personal case,” Bell said. “My lab work continues to be normal so I think it makes sense to take advantage of the vaccinations that will make it less likely that long Covid will develop. The thing that’s clear is that the very first strains were much harder on folks than these current strains are.”
There is an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke in people age 65 and older after a Covid infection. A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that Covid vaccinations reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks after Covid by about 50 percent in that age group.
Some people avoided the most recent Covid vaccine because earlier vaccines made them feel ill for days. One local resident who had that experience in 2022 said she did not have that problem with the mRNA Covid shot in 2023. Another resident recommends people who have had bad reactions to the mRNA Covid shots consider taking non-mRNA Covid shot Noravax, that is made from protein. She had no problem with any bad reaction to the Noravax shot, although she had to drive to CVS in Fayetteville to get it. It is not available at any drug stores in Carroll County.
According to an article published by the American Medical Association, the Noravax vaccine contains harmless spike protein subunits with an adjuvant added to boost immune response. And, unlike mRNA vaccines, protein-based vaccines do not contain any genetic material, said Sandra Fryhofer, MD in an AMA Covid-19 update.
“Our vast experience with protein subunit vaccines should be reassuring to those who worry about the newness of mRNA vaccine technology,” Fryhofer said. “This protein-based platform is new for Covid vaccines but it’s not really new. This technology has been around for more than 30 years… it’s already been used in making other vaccines, for example, for flu, hepatitis B and whooping cough.”