By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

August 23, 2021

How come Covid vaccinated people are getting infected with COVID? And why can they carry high viral loads, without  getting nearly as sick?

These are questions everyone is asking and nobody is answering. Everyone thinks if they’ve been vaccinated, they won’t get infected.

One of the first things you have to remember is that these vaccines were never about keeping you from getting infected. They’re about keeping you from getting really sick and dying. And the fact that a vaccinated person can carry high loads of the Delta variant while rarely becoming seriously ill proves they are effectively doing their job.

And it has everything to do with immunoglobulins, proteins made by the immune system that act as antibodies to bind to and help remove foreign antigens like the Covid virus.

About 70-80% of immunoglobulins in the blood are serum immunoglobulin G (IgG). Serum IgG is produced a few weeks after an infection or vaccine. These specific antibodies circulate around in your bloodstream and, if you are later exposed to the virus, your body can rapidly reproduce an army of IgG antibodies to fight it off.

Then there is immunoglobulin A (IgA). It is highly concentrated in the mucous membranes of the nasal and respiratory tracts, and is very very good at neutralizing the virus on the surfaces where it initially infects you…the nasal passages and back of the throat (nasopharynx). But after you’re vaccinated it gets broken down very quickly and doesn’t produce long-lasting antibodies. There is no army here waiting for an enemy.

How do Immunoglobulins make COVID Less Deadly?

Now let’s say you are vaccinated, and then exposed to the virus.

It’s a respiratory virus, so classically it enters through your nostrils. But you have no army of IgA antibodies waiting there to fight it off, because they decline rapidly after vaccination.

This gives the virus the chance to invade the mucous membranes in your nasal passages, throat and nasopharynx. Then, the virus will set up house in the back of your throat and start reproducing. You’ll probably get the sore, scratchy throat. You might show symptoms of a sinus infection or have a fever. This is also when you’ll be producing a higher viral load that can spread to others.

Next, the virus will start making it’s way down to your lungs. That’s where those long-lasting IgGs antibodies you developed after the vaccine come in to protect you.

Once the virus moves into your lower respiratory tract, the IgGs mobilize to reduce the viral load and prevent it from overwhelming your lungs where it would systemically enter the bloodstream and infect other organs. So you will likely have a shorter and milder response to COVID than someone who is unvaccinated.

This is the only reason that vaccinated people will not be dying at the level that unvaccinated people are. They have the IgG serum memory, which basically neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 after it moves from the nasopharynx area down to your lungs.

When a Mask is just a Mask

Taken altogether, this is why people who may have the virus unknowingly (because they’re without symptoms) or symptomatically, should wear a mask in public spaces to help stop aerosol transmission to other people. After all, why increase your chances of infection from a nasty respiratory virus when you can prevent some of it? Even with antibody protection from the vaccine, you can still end up feeling very sick for several days or longer.

It’s just an extra layer of protection.

SOURCES:

Wisnewski AV, Campillo Luna J, Redlich CA. Human IgG and IgA responses to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. PLoS One. 2021;16(6):e0249499.

Sterlin D, Mathian A, Miyara M, Mohr A, Anna F, Claër L, et al. IgA dominates the early neutralizing antibody response to SARS-CoV-2. Sci Transl Med. 2021 Jan 20;13(577):eabd2223.