Vaccinate: you don't just do it for yourself, but also for someone else. That is the mantra of many health ministers such as Hugo de Jonge. By getting vaccinated, we achieve herd immunity – at least that is the promise. At Radboud UMC, they find out that things are different.
Herd immunity, you know, the concept that Prime Minister Mark Rutte can no longer remember saying in the solemn speech that was broadcast on national TV and that was therefore seen by millions of people.
How does herd immunity work (just to refresh the memory)? On the RIVM website (https://rijksvaccinatieprogramma.nl/infectieziekten/groepsimmuniteit) states:
'If you can't get a disease, you can't transmit it to others. If no one can get the disease anymore, no one can transmit it and the disease can even disappear. By vaccinating everyone against a disease, a disease can therefore be eradicated. This has already happened with smallpox and will hopefully also be the case for polio within a few years. With measles and rubella, this is also theoretically possible.'
RIVM website
Interestingly, the RIVM does not talk about natural immunity, that is, the immunity that occurs when someone has already had an infectious disease. A vaccine does not do much different from a natural infection. It activates the immune system, clearing the virus. The immune system also has a memory, which recognizes viruses that come along for a second time and accelerates the immune response.
Data from the RIVM and worldwide show that many people do not become seriously ill from corona. So they do not need to protect themselves against covid-19 by means of a vaccine. And if they do come into contact with the virus, their well-functioning immune system ensures that they are rid of the virus even faster the next time. So the question is: why should these people get vaccinated? The answer of a.o. Hugo de Jonge: because then you contribute to herd immunity.
Transmission is not stopped
Now for the practice: a tweet by Prof. Dr. Heiman Wertheim, professor of clinical microbiology and head of the Department of Clinical Microbiology at Radboudumc, shows that fully vaccinated people still have a high viral load and can therefore still pass the virus on to vulnerable people.
As Wertheim points out, these are people who are "hardly sick". That sounds like patients have been routinely tested before being admitted to a ward, without significant Covid-related complaints.
If these are not outliers who all happen to end up in Radboud, this means the end of the promise of complete herd immunity through vaccination. And, most importantly, it means the end of usefulness and necessity of vaccinating non-vulnerable people against covid. This is especially true for teenagers and young people.
