Covid-19 immunity expected by April

The esteemed Dr. Marty Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, chief medical adviser to Sesame Care, and author of “The Price We Pay.”

In a February 18, 2021 professional opinion published in the Wall Street Journal; Dr. Makary notes “Covid-19 cases have dropped 77% in six weeks” and asks that “experts should level with the public about the good news. If a medication slashed cases by 77%, we’d call it a miracle pill.“

Dr. Makary answers with specifics “Why is the number of cases plummeting much faster than experts predicted? In large part because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing.”

Dr. Makary writes, “Testing has been capturing only from 10% to 25% of infections, depending on when during the pandemic someone got the virus. Applying a time-weighted case capture average of 1 in 6.5 to the cumulative 28 million confirmed cases would mean about 55% of Americans have natural immunity.

“Now add people getting vaccinated. As of this week, 15% of Americans have received the vaccine, and the figure is rising fast. Former Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb estimates 250 million doses will have been delivered to some 150 million people by the end of March.

“There is reason to think the country is racing toward an extremely low level of infection. As more people have been infected, most of whom have mild or no symptoms, there are fewer Americans left to be infected. At the current trajectory, I expect Covid will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to resume normal life.

“Antibody studies almost certainly underestimate natural immunity. Antibody testing doesn’t capture antigen-specific T-cells, which develop “memory” once they are activated by the virus. Survivors of the 1918 Spanish flu were found in 2008—90 years later—to have memory cells still able to produce neutralizing antibodies.”

For more, click here for Dr. Makary’s article at the Wall Street Journal.

Tulsa Today posts to date on Covid-19/China Plague (2020-2021) include:

Don’ts and Dos on Coronavirus, Jane M. Orient, M.D., March 17

Politics in pandemic, David Arnett, Publisher, April 4

Evidence: Covid 19 escaped research from lab National Review, April 6

OK begins reopen, Dems oppose, David Arnett, Publisher, April 23

Vaccine at ‘Warp Speed’?, Jane M. Orient, M.D., May 19

The Universal Health Scare, Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD, June 9

Covid News That Could Save Your Life!, Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, July 15

COVID Chaos: Prison without bars, Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD, July 26

FDA delays causing deaths daily, Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D. July 29

Swedish strategy working for Kung Flu, David Arnett, Publisher, July 30