Onyx generates outrage by incorrectly saying that catching Covid is the best vaccine

The statement by Onyx Lorenzoni (PL), candidate for the government of Rio Grande do Sul, that the best vaccine against Covid-19 is to catch the disease generated indignation on social media and also among infectologists. For them, in addition to being scientifically wrong, the argument can contribute to increasing deaths in the country, which accounts for 688,013 lives lost as a result of the new coronavirus.

“I had Covid in June 2020, my doctor has been following me since then. And he advised me to do a monitoring because the best vaccine there is is to catch the disease. Everyone knows that. In all diseases it’s like that. And since then I follow my IGG [anticorpo que ajuda a proteger de infecções] periodically, and he is always very high”, said Lorenzoni in the debate against Eduardo Leite (PSDB) held on Thursday night (27).

For infectious disease specialist José David Urbaez Brito, R&D coordinator for the Genov-Dasa Project, which monitors sample sequencing of Sars-CoV-2 in Brazil, the statement causes outrage. “It generates anger and a feeling of impotence for a figure like this to continue stating one of the most horrible reasons that induced people to die. It’s like arguing that pushing a person out of a flying plane would be good to train them for trauma”, he criticizes.

He states that there is no way to think about generating collective immunity by exposing people to the virus when it comes to a new infectious agent, which transforms itself and causes hospitalizations and deaths. He explains that, while our immune system “trains” to fight Sars-CoV-2, the virus also changes to continue having access to organisms. This is a recurring fight, like the flu and colds, but more serious.

In addition, the immunity offered by vaccines is more complete and lasting than that developed by those who only contract the disease. A study conducted by scientists from Yale and North Carolina universities published in the scientific journal PNAS points out, for example, that the average time to reinfection considering the portion of the population with the lowest immune response is 353 days for those immunized with the Moderna vaccine, against 144 days for those who have only natural immunity.

In this sense, seeking immunity from contamination is entering a territory of risk, including death. “It’s like playing dice. The difference is that when we lose in the game, we can throw again. Life doesn’t work like that”, says doctor Demetrius Montenegro, a member of the SBI (Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases).

He points out, among the characteristics of the virus, the rapid transmission and the power of mutation, factors that make the immune response difficult and even make it necessary to have booster doses of the vaccine. “The virus undergoes changes in its structure to evade the immune system. It is not like chickenpox, which undergoes little modification”.

Montenegro also emphasizes that, if the country is currently in a different phase of the pandemic, this level was reached thanks to vaccination, not contagion. “Natural immunity in the case of Covid-19 is not excellent. Thus, even when the person is infected, the support of the vaccine is necessary to improve the response, reduce the possibility of complications and death”.

Finally, he recalls that even diseases considered minor, such as measles, can lead to complications and it is never worth playing the health lottery, especially when there is a vaccine. “Onyx follows what this government has been preaching since the beginning of the pandemic: the denial of science and the vaccine. This is regrettable.”