by Thomas T. Siler, M.D.
American Thinker
After a year now of dealing with the SARS-COV-2 virus, we have learned a great deal about the pandemic. The elusive goal has been to acquire herd immunity and have life go back to normal. However, our mainstream media and some governmental health authorities have ignored parts of the scientific picture that could help us understand herd immunity. They have placed excessive importance on vaccination as the only way to herd immunity. This is not entirely true. There is scientific data showing that we may be closer to herd immunity and the end of the pandemic than the media and government let on.
At the start of the pandemic, we were told that the SARS-COV-2 was a “novel” virus, meaning a brand-new virus that has not been seen before. If this were true, then it would be much harder to treat or make a workable vaccine.
Fortunately, this was not true. SARS-COV-2 is in the family of coronaviruses and shares common characteristics with other members of the same family. Four coronaviruses commonly circulate in our population and cause symptoms of the common cold. Did persons have some cross-immunity to the “new” SARS-COV-2 virus from previous infections with other viruses in the Coronavirus family? The answer was yes.