Immunity Debt is Not a Thing! (And a Bit on Lymphopenia and Similarities to HIV)

The term 'immunity debt' is causing problems because if it's the case that the immune system can lose function from a lack of illness after years of masking, then the solution is to expose kids to more illnesses. Health care professionals online are jumping all over this because it's SO wrong and leads people to this very dangerous conclusion. Why is this bullshit being spread right now? Maybe for some politicians and public health and other medical professionals to cover the fact that they've allowed a lot of children to be harmed by a situation that could have been prevented. 

Immunity debt isn't a thing! Getting sick doesn't make your immune system stronger, and avoiding illness doesn't harm it. If you think we need to be exposed to germs in our environment in order to better fight them by boosting our immune system, and you're avoiding an over-sanitized life of masks and hand-washing, you're thinking of bacteria, not viruses. Let your kids play in the dirt, but please put a mask on them when they go to school. 

And telling people to take off their mask so they don't risk a flu immunity debt is like telling people not to wear a condom so they don't risk an STI immunity debt. Nonsense, right?!

This is explained in greater detail by Dr. Kristen Panthagani in this thread. She explains that microbial exposure is important, but it means exposure to commensal microbes (i.e. the microbiome), not pathogenic microbes that make you sick. Just think about it for a minute. How often do new parents try to keep sick friends and family away from the baby?? It's for a good reason! Dr. Deepti Gurdasani also wrote a thread about the invented term 'immunity debt.' Ontario Public Health also clarified that immunity depletion (dysfunction/dysregulation) IS a thing .The more a person gets sick, the harder it can be for the immune system to keep fighting. It's the kids who had Covid already who are more susceptible to flu, and, according to this study in Nature immune dysfunction from Covid can persist for over eight months from the time of infection. 

Colin Furness says immunity debt fits a narrative of muscles that atrophy, except our immune system isn't a muscle. It's more like a photo collection that doesn't fade if we don't look at it. The photos just sit until they're needed. 

Dr. Papenberg recently responded in a forum on this issue: 

We would NEVER recommend any child purposefully getting infected with any respiratory virus, including CVOID-19. . . . There is no benefit to the individual child to get a respiratory infection earlier in life. 

Another medical professional added,

It's pretty depressing that the made-up term "immunity debt" has been repeated so much that I'm seeing people ask for papers proving that's not the explanation for illness. ?! I'm an immunologist telling you there ARE NO papers like that, because it's not a thing. 

Then today, Sabrina Vohra-Miller and Dr. Samira Jeimy wrote this thread below to clarify this sticky misconception further, with some pretty graphics:

We collaborated on a post because we are both tired of seeing the term 'immunity debt' being thrown around. We also get into why we are seeing a record number of pediatric hospitalizations, so stick with us. 

So what is this 'immunity debt' concept? It's claims that lack of exposure to infections weakened children's immune systems, causing them to have severe infections. There is NO evidence that this is real. 

In the absence of infections, the immune system does not lie dormant and weaken. We are constantly exposed to and co-exist with, trillions of viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Lack of infections does not weaken the immune system. But some infections, like measles and COVID-19, can. 

Pediatric hospitals are filed with sick children. What's going on?

While numbers of RSV and influenza are not higher than last year at this time, MORE children are hospitalized than last year. So, higher proportion of children are coming to hospital with severe illness. 

Why is this occurring?

With removal of public health measures such as masking, many viruses are spreading widely. Given we have had a break from these, most of the population is susceptible and exposed again at the same time. But this doesn't explain the higher percentage of sick kids. 

One hypothesis: We know many viral infections, such as Covid and measles, can impact immunity downstream, even after mild infections. Omicron spread widely among kids and they may not have immune reserves to fend off subsequent viruses and infections as efficiently as before. 

To add, there is a massive healthcare staffing crisis. Healthcare workers are sick themselves, leaving healthcare due to being burnt out and underpaid. Without staff, hospital beds are in short supply. Also, there is an ongoing shortage of fever reducing meds for children. 

Many are using this crisis to claim that public health measures [masking, etc.] have somehow impacted our immunity - THIS IS NOT A THING. The public health measures we took in the last few years only helped reduce the burden of illness and did not in fact cause this crisis. 

Need more proof of Covid being the culprit, destroying immunity so other viruses could go to town - NOT wearing masks for two years? Here's info on Covid causing lymphopenia (aka lymphocytopenia), the reduction of B, T, and NK cells that fight off intruders in body (i.e. our immune system). The only other disease that causes this is AIDS, and now some people are referring to Covid as Airborne-AIDS. Back in January 2020, the Lancet published a paper that found 63% of Covid patients had lymphopenia. Public health should have been screaming this from the rooftops!!

Don't try to get Covid (or any other virus) in order to boost your immunity! Wear an N95 or better when you leave the house. Yes, it might be necessary for years. Masks won't kill us, but Covid might. 

ETA: A 2020 study found similarities between Covid and HIV: "Both HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 infection share CD4+ T cell loss in . . . disease outcome and immunodeficiency . . . attacks on CD4+ T cells, immune activation and redistribution of CD4+ T cells are contributing mechanisms in both diseases." 

ETA: Epidemiologist Michael Olesen said he's rather catch HIV than COVID. Here's his explanation:

HIV primarily causes damage to the immune system. COVID causes damage to every system. HIV can be easily managed with ART. There is nothing to manage the damage from COVID. 

ETA: This is from Anthony Leonardi, PhD, who warned us all back in November 2020, but it feels like nobody listens to anything that isn't entertainment anymore!

ETA: This 2 minute video from an immunologist explaining all this!