My Rep. says opinions are like elbows - most folks have a couple. OK so..."science"? Isn't that what we're supposed to fall back on? Remove emotion. Remove politics. What is the science?

Good news: COVID victims have lasting anti-body protections

As I said to my Rep., those who have had COVID really should be considered “fully vaccinated” on par with the current vaccines. The 13 hours of add pay could be an enticement for them to upload medical proof that they have anti-bodies vs. a vaccination. They have been vaccinated by nature. Perhaps as well as a “vaccine passport” what we need is an “antibody passport”. Let’s be solution oriented here - include as many pilots as possible in the “gets”. But most importantly let’s not allow our pilots to be coerced into getting medical treatments that they do not need? Seems like a winning attitude to me, but it’s not the prevailing attitude.

Between politics and this damned disease so much crazy has been planted and fertilized in the USA of late that I fear we have lost our ability to engage in rational discussion. It's incredibly sad. And no, I have not had COVID. I am vaccinated. Sad indeed that I should even have to add that comment, but...

Oly

 

Easy. We know EXACTLY what the genome is, it was mapped out over a year ago. That allows you target a specific part of the virus with a vaccine.

Having the map of the genome doesn't impart knowledge about how an epidemic plays out since that is heavily influenced by human behavior. Also once the bug infects someone, the course of the infection is variable depending their genetics, immune system, co-morbidities, strain, inoculum, whether they got a good night's sleep, etc. But it's pretty easy in the grand scheme to develop a very specific, targeted monkey wrench to stop the bug before it multiplies much.

 

Yeah, maybe one is protected after Covid, but no 13 hours of pay.

 

From the article you posted (emphasis added by me):
This study is a promising step toward answering important questions. The researchers themselves openly admit it is limited in scope and that a lot more work needs to be done to understand immunity across the full spectrum of the recovered population.

Understand, I’m just pointing out where certain questions remain unanswered- this isn’t a hill I’d die on. I think vaccinating the recovered should be way down the list of priorities, and may very well prove to be entirely redundant. Of course, we’ve only verified infection in around 10% of the country’s population, so this issue isn’t a factor in the lion’s share of vaccinations being performed.

As to the pay issue, the airline’s primary concern is keeping the operation running. If you’re immune, good for you- they care about whether or not you’re legal to fly the trip. If all the destinations we served accepted prior infection as proof of immunity, you’d have a much better case to make on that front, but for now it’s still pretty inconsistent how different countries are health-screening their border entries.

 

You sir, are an honest man.

 

Papers please.

 

DAL guy here... I hope it is OK that I crash this particular party as we have similar ongoing discussions going on and it is nice to get other perspectives. So... How do you know that you won't have an adverse reaction to the vaccines if you HAVE had ChinaFlu? If that is a non factor, why did the drug companies get complete liability waivers for them? What about other 'maladies' that have not been considered and if adverse reactions occur? For example what if you had A-fib before... AND had ChinaFlu? How do you know that the vaccines would not cause a bad reaction for you? What if you have asthma? or sleep apnea? or any of a myriad other 'normal' afflictions that are not life threatening but are unknown in terms of interaction with an experimental treatment?

You are correct. They don't have scientific answers.

 

It is not ok

 

why is it not ok? Are you a new moderator?

 

First off, if you’re really just looking for a respectful discussion that yields refreshing perspectives, may I suggest dropping the “China Flu” nonsense. It’s a term that’s promoted specifically to make the discussion heated & emotional rather than data-based & rational.

Like I said, vaccinating the recovered is not my biggest concern by a long shot. I suspect- and research is continuing to suggest- that it may be moot in many circumstances. (Then again, only 1 in 10 Americans have had a confirmed case of COVID-19, so the issue isn’t as applicable as some are making it seem.) I’m only saying that if you think people should be making free, informed decisions- as it seems we both do- you need to be honest about the unknowns on both sides of the equation. Stating all the unknowns about duration of immunity, long-term complications, etc., of the vaccine without consenting the same of the virus itself is intellectually disingenuous.

Now the knowns. Nearly a billion people worldwide (including many with asthma, apnea, etc.) have received at least one dose with a death rate of essentially zero vs nearly 4 million dead from the virus- not to mention hospitalizations, lung-scarring, and other complications for many more. I don’t think most of us here need to live in fear of either, but I really question the logic of someone who is more afraid of the one that’s been proven safe in multiple clinical trials than the one that has killed 600K Americans alone and continues to spread rapidly & mutate in certain regions of the world.

It’s like refusing to wear a seatbelt because you think there are cancer causing agents in the material it’s made of. The car accident- even if statistically rare- is far more likely to kill you.