Vaccine and Natural Infection
Which is better? And why?
Is natural infection better than immunization?
The difference between vaccination and natural infection is the price paid for immunity.
The price paid for immunity after natural infection might be pneumonia from chickenpox, intellectual disability from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumonia from pneumococcus, congenital disabilities from rubella, liver cancer from hepatitis B virus, or death from measles.
Immunization with vaccines, like natural infections, induces long-lived immunity. But unlike natural infection, immunization does not extract such a high price for immunity.
If you could see the world from your immune system’s perspective, you would realize that where the virus or bacteria comes from is irrelevant. Your immune system “sees” something that is foreign attacks it, disables it and then adds it to the memory bank so it can react more quickly the next time it encounters it.
Does a vaccine disrupt the body’s natural processes?
When viruses or bacteria enter the body through the nose or mouth, they are detected by cells of the immune system that line the surfaces of these areas of entry. These “foreign invaders” are ingested by immune cells and processed in lymph nodes in the infection region. The immune response has two aspects, local and systemic. The immune cells are produced near the infection site, but they are dispersed throughout the body via the bloodstream. After the infection has been resolved, a small number of immune memory cells continue circulating to monitor for future infections. Because these memory responses are specific, subsequent exposures to the same virus or bacterium generate a quicker and more robust immune response that completely prevents or significantly lessens the effects and duration of illness.
Vaccines are no different. Although the common belief is that vaccines are injected directly into the bloodstream, they are actually administered into the muscle or the layer of skin below the dermis where immune cells reside and circulate as occurs following natural infection.
How does the mRNA vaccines (COVID vaccine) work?
While most people consider mRNA the most advanced type of vaccine, researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades. mRNA vaccines teach our cells how to make a harmless piece of the “spike protein.” The spike protein is found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This protein piece serves as an antigen to trigger an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, protects us from getting infected when the real virus enters our bodies.
They cannot give someone COVID-19.
- mRNA vaccines do not use the live virus that causes COVID-19.
They do not affect or interact with our DNA in any way.
- mRNA never enters the cell’s nucleus, which is where our DNA (genetic material) is kept.
The cell breaks down and gets rid of the mRNA soon after it is finished using the instructions.
