Former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha has outright dismissed the notion that COVID-19 leaves long-term immune damage. This is in direct contradiction to recent data from multiple countries, which has documented the profound dysregulation of immune responses after infection. This debate gained momentum as clinical immunologists and researchers began to uncover findings that suggest SARS-CoV-2 may have more profound implications for immune health than previously understood.
This alarming mechanism has recently been documented in several peer-reviewed journal articles indicating that SARS-CoV-2 is capable of reprogramming bone marrow stem cells. Such epigenetic changes from reprogramming persist for at least a full year. Given the still-unfolding effects of COVID-19 on our immune systems, this research is a wake-up call. It’s this latter point that might explain a recent and alarming finding by Samira Jeimy at the University of Western Ontario. She noted an extreme increase in cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, a bacterial pathogen that seldom presents in such high numbers.
Jeimy’s reflections underscore a pressing need to re-assess what these results mean. “I can count on my two hands the number of times I’d ever seen mycoplasma pneumoniae before 2023. All of a sudden I feel like everybody has it,” she stated. The sudden increase in COVID-19 infections has left public health experts scratching their heads. Others speculate that COVID-19 precautions produced an “immunity debt,” rendering populations more susceptible to disease once restrictions were lifted.
The Concept of Immunity Debt
The notion of immunity debt posits that reduced exposure to pathogens during the pandemic could lead to increased vulnerability to infections as people resume normal activities. Now experts say that this artisanal explanation is becoming increasingly difficult to hear. Non-COVID infections have increased year after year, which makes the narrative around immunity debt much more confusing.
Jeimy shared chilling testimony from affected families. Most infants and toddlers who’ve been hospitalized with these highly unusual infections since 2022 weren’t even alive at the height of the strictest pandemic lockdowns. This begs important questions about the immunity debt hypothesis’s validity.
Dawn Bowdish is Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity at McMaster University. She emphasizes that clinical signs of immune system effects are apparent and easy to see. “It’s certainly impacting our immune health, and probably our overall health as well,” she remarked. Academics and advocates alike have begun to explore these changes in great detail. Alongside that work, they’re discovering the vital need to understand all sides of immune response in those long after COVID.
Changes in Immune Response
Immunologist Tim Henrich, who authored a recent study on immune responses, stated, “There has definitely been a change in the character of the immune response since 2019.” His findings show an alarming switch in the immune system’s response following a COVID-19 infection. Even in those without any asthma symptoms at all, you can see pretty clear evidence of inflammatory cell infiltration and fatigue.
Henrich noted, “We’ve shown immune dysfunction post-COVID, including signs of exhaustion and inflammation in people without symptoms.” He further elaborated on the implications of these findings, asserting, “We are probably living with more inflammation on a day-to-day basis than we were before.”
Collectively, these observations support the recent assessment from Akiko Iwasaki, director of the Yale Center for Infection and Immunity. Iwasaki has discovered that immune system changes could be found in recovered COVID-19 patients, even in those without symptoms during the course of the disease. “There are some subtle differences between healthy controls and convalescent controls,” she explained, highlighting the need for ongoing research into these immune alterations.
The Debate Continues
Despite the mounting evidence suggesting COVID-19 may alter immune function, Ashish Jha maintains that fears regarding long-term immune damage may be overstated. He believes that only a handful of people will ever experience immune dysfunction or long COVID. These cases are now a tiny, shrinking percentage of new infections. “There’s a lot of bad information out there about how COVID-19 damages the immune system. It really doesn’t,” Jha stated.
Jha’s perspective emphasizes the need for a balanced understanding of COVID-19’s impact on health. He understands that people may have legitimate concerns. Few people suffer permanent impairment of their immune systems. “Except for the small proportion of people who might get some immune dysfunction—which happens with other viruses too—COVID doesn’t damage the immune system,” he concluded.
Lay these worries to rest at your own peril, say other experts. Wolfgang Leitner, head of the Innate Immunity Section at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He wonders whether COVID-19 might interfere with the immune system’s ability to remember past infections. This has the potential to increase vulnerability to a host of pathogens, complicating recovery and health impacts even more.
