I wonder if people see the same distinctions that I see between the use of the word "immunity" in the legal sense as compared to the medical and public health senses.

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First, a disclaimer: I am not an expert in the fields of law, medicine, or etymology. This consists of my current understanding which can change with more information. It also might not change based on how other people want to use the word. Because... that's just your opinion, man. Just like this is mine. On the other hand, other people's opinions will inform my evolving understanding. Also important: I am writing this as a resident of the U.S.A., so that will be part of my perspective for better or worse. That said...

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Legal immunity

In the legal sense, in my understanding (see disclaimer) immunity usually means immunity from prosecution by the state, usually in exchange for aiding in the prosecution of other people. My analogy is that it's like an external shield provided by the state and could be 100% effective if the person with legal immunity hasn't lied or withheld information.

This legal shield, of couse, does not shield a person from reprisals from those they tattled on under the legal dictum "snitches get stitches". (I will not go on unnecessary tangents and irrelevant elucidations. I will not go on unnecessary tangents and irrelevant elucidations. I will not go on unnecessary tangents and...)

Biological immunity

Biological immunity is nothing like legal immunity. It is not an external shield though I've seen oversimplified explanations that use that analogy. My little white blood cells aren't swarming around outside of me like a little cloud, fighting viruses before they can get to me. They do not form castle walls or a piranha-filled moat. For my immune system to work I must have already been exposed to and infected with the virus. (Again, see the disclaimer above.)

Let's back up and break it down a bit. Let's look at:

• avoiding the virus
• avoiding exposure in the presence of the virus
• contracting the disease, and
• fighting the disease.

Finally, I'll address herd immunity as the exception to my not-a-shield assertion.

Avoiding the virus

No exposure = no chance of catching the disease.

A virus floating around in the air or sitting on a surface has the potential to cause disease. At this point, let's say that I have not been exposed to the virus. My best option to avoid the disease is to avoid the virus. Basically, don't be where the virus is. This is hard, though, because I can't see the virus. I don't know where it is.

My best option to avoid contact with the virus is to not go where people with the disease likely are (or have been recently, depending on the mode of transmission and all the variables around that). Self-isolation is effective but not feasible unless I'm privileged enough to have a safe place and a contact-free way to get the supplies I will need during isolation and the means to pay for that.

Avoiding exposure in the presence of the virus

Minimal exposure reduces but does not eliminate my chances of infection.

Complete isolation isn't an option for most people including me. My next best option is to employ barriers to prevent contact with the virus when I am around anyone (see also the transmission variables above). That might mean wearing a high-quality mask (N95 equivalent or better) and/or gloves depending, again, on transmission modes. Better still if I can wear them perfectly. Even better still if everyone I'm around is also taking appropriate precautions.

These are not perfect solutions and I might still be exposed.

Contracting the disease

Once the active and viable virus is inside me and replicating, I am infected and have contracted the disease even if symptoms haven't started. (This may not fit definitions in the medical world but I think it works for my purposes here.)

I say this because this is the first time that my immune system can detect the infection and ramp up an immune response - my defenses. Many of the defenses deployed also cause symptoms. Fever, runny nose, cough, etc. are all ways that my body tries to kill and expel the viruses and end the infection.

Another thing starts, too: The virus is not standing still. It is replicating and attempting to spread not just within me but also to other people. Now, I am a disease vector.

One thing I learned from the beginning weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it is quite possible to be a disease vector before the symptoms show up and after the symptoms are gone. It even appears possible to be a disease vector without even knowing you are infected for the entire couse of the disease! Respectively: pre-symptomatic, post-symptomatic, and asymptomatic contagiousness.

This is why we were originally told to quarantine for 10 days after symptoms cleared up. Once the quick tests were developed and widely deployed the quarantine period seemed to generally drop to 5 days. (And when asking people to quarantine somehow changed from being a public health issue and became a political issue, it dropped to 0 days after symptoms cleared up, although I think the recommendations vary depending on where you are and who you're paying attention to.)

Fighting the disease

So. Let's say that I've been invaded by the virus and it's replicating. My immune system is trying to counteract and eliminate the virus using all the tools in my toolbox. There are way too many things going on here: virus is invading cells and replicating and my immune system is reacting as best it can in multiple ways. Some of these ways can cause me much discomfort and damage - even lethal damage.

Since the COVID-19 vaccines came out it became abundantly clear that the progression of the disease is much less dangerous for those with recent vaccinations. Again, remember that vaccines are not shields!

But they are like trained firefighters fighting my house fire with appropriate tools which is way better than me standing in the front yard with a garden hose. (Whoops, analogy shift!) The house can still burn down even with the fully-equipped immune system but the chances are better than without. (Okay, analogy over.)

Herd immunity

Boosting my immune system against disease, as I've explained, is not an external shield. What is an external shield is another hot topic during our ongoing pandemic, "herd immunity" We haven't heard much about that for a while, though.

I'll leave aside the argument that calling humans a "herd" is divisive or dismissive. I'll just point out that we are intensely social animals (even me and I'm pretty introverted) so the analogy isn't wholly inappropriate. Regardless of our culture, there are few - if any - true "rugged individuals" capable of making a modern life all by their lonesome.

Unfortunately, "herd immunity" was bandied about by many without understanding it. It came to mean, "let the virus kill the weak and those of us who remain will be stronger". This was, frankly, eugenicist bullshit. The herd is stronger when the herd protects the vulnerable.

There are some people for whom being vaccinated can be dangerous or ineffective. I am not talking about not wanting to get a shot. I'm talking about the very young, the very old, and people with compromised immune systems.

Since most of us [glares menacingly] want to protect our children, elders, family, and friends who fall in those categories - and there are a lot of them - we can do it by ensuring that as many people around the vulnerable are up-to-date with the most efficacious practices including vaccines, masks, and appropriate quarantine and treatments. Then we are the external shield that protects the whole herd.

We can take care of each other. Lets do that.

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Written and posted and copyrighted on 2025-03-16 by me. Quote me if you want (linking to this post would be nice, too) but no one and no thing have permission to slurp this into any LLM vomit factory as training data.