We must halt Covid vaccination immediately: Rennebohm

Pediatric rheumatologist says jab irreversibly harms children’s innate immune system, prevents herd immunity (Updated 7/13/22)

In his Open Letter to Parents Regarding COVID Vaccination, Part III, pediatric rheumatologist Robert Rennebohm, MD, formerly of Cleveland Clinic, makes the following key points:

1.     The human immune system is ingeniously complex.  Its complexity must be understood and appreciated. 

2.     It consists of a mucosal immune system and a systemic immune system, both of which have an innate immunity division and an adaptive (acquired) immunity division.

3.     The importance of the innate immunity division (also called the innate immune system) has not been emphasized by proponents of the COVID vaccination campaign.

This is unfortunate, because innate immunity is enormously important throughout life, particularly during early childhood when innate immunity receives its foundational education: 

a.     An important component of the innate immune system is “innate antibodies” (“natural antibodies”).  Children are born with these innate antibodies, which are present in high concentration during early childhood and wane thereafter.

b.     Innate antibodies are nonspecific — meaning that they are capable of binding to and neutralizing many different viruses.

c.     By binding to viruses, innate antibodies play a major role in educating the innate immune system to recognize and appropriately attack viruses (and other foreign, “non-self” entities).

d.     Also, by binding to viruses, innate antibodies teach the innate immune system to distinguish between “non-self” (which it may attack) and “self” (which it should leave alone).

e.     Interference with the binding of innate antibodies to viruses interferes with the education and function of a person’s innate immune system, leaving the person less able to fight off infectionand more prone to autoimmune disease (disease due to immune attack waged against “self”— parts of one’s own body).

f.      A person’s greatest opportunity for excellent, foundational education of their innate immune system occurs during early childhood. 

If that greatest opportunity is missed or disrupted, it is irretrievably lost. 

4.     The human immune system employs a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, collaborative, inclusive approach that uses the innate immune system as its first line of defense and employs the adaptive immune system for a more antigen-specific (e.g., virus-specific) response, the latter developing antigen-specific memory in the process.

5.     It uses wise checks and balances, feedback mechanisms and back up mechanisms; it learns from experience; it has astonishing memory; it requires education and practice (particularly during early childhood); it is efficient and adjustable; its marvelous capacities have been perfected over thousands of years 

6.     It represents an elegant immune ecosystem. 

7.     Just as ecosystems in Nature (forests, wetlands, prairies, lakes, and their living species) are complex, delicate, and must not be subjected to misguided tampering, the same is true with the human immune ecosystem. 

8.     In comparison, the COVID vaccines are relatively uni-dimensional, exclusionary, and interfere with the proper education, practice, experience, and function of the innate immune system, particularly in young children, but also throughout life. 

a.     The COVID vaccines are focused primarily on production of antibodies to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2, for short) virus, and they primarily rely on these spike-specific “neutralizing antibodies” to fight the virus.

b.     Compared to innate antibodies, the neutralizing vaccinal antibodies bind much more strongly to the SC-2 virus (even after their neutralizing capacity has markedly diminished) and, thereby, outcompete the innate antibodies for attachment to binding sites on SC-2. 

That is, the vaccinal antibodies interfere with binding of innate antibodies to the virus. (Innate antibodies, by design, bind only loosely to viruses.) 

c.     This vaccinal interference with the binding of innate antibodies to SC-2 results in impairment of normal education and function of the innate immune system, leaving the vaccinated person less able to fight off infection and more prone to autoimmune disease.

d.     Why and how does vaccinal interference with the interaction of innate antibodies with the specificSC-2 virus affect the overall education of the innate immune system, regarding response to other viruses and distinction between non-self and self? 

This is very complex but has to do with shared molecular patterns that many viruses have in common and that are also similar to molecular patterns (“self” patterns) on components of the human body.

e.     This harmful vaccinal interference with the binding of innate antibodies to SC-2 lasts for as long as the titers of spike-specific vaccinal antibodies are elevated, which inevitably occurs when vaccinated (primed) individuals are continuously (or frequently and repeatedly) exposed to highly infectious SC-2 variants (e.g., Omicron variants) or receive “booster doses” of COVID vaccine.

f.      When the COVID vaccines are given to children during early childhood, they disrupt the greatest opportunity for the child’s innate immune system to become optimally educated.   

This disruption has irreversible long-term consequences: such children are rendered highly susceptible to severe disease from numerous glycosylated microbial pathogens (like coronaviruses and other acute respiratory viruses) and to immune-mediated diseases (autoimmune diseases and allergic diseases). 

There is also legitimate concern that such disruption could adversely affect education of the immune system’s cancer surveillance system.

9.     An “optimal” immune response to a virus involves much more than simply producing virus-specific “neutralizing” antibodies. 

An “optimal” immune response involves utilization of all of the potential immune capacities that might be needed to contain the virus and prevent transmission — e.g., innate antibodies and NK (Natural Killer) cells of the innate immune system.

There is much more to the story (of immune protection) than the levels of neutralizing antibodies. It is simplistic and misleading to think only in terms of “levels of virus-specific neutralizing antibodies.”

In fact, natural immunity consists of a well-orchestrated collaborative effort of both innate and adaptive immunity.

That is why comprehensive natural immunity is much more protective than antibodies alone.

10.  Naturally acquired immunity to SC-2 is far superior to the immunity provided by the COVID vaccines.

Naturally acquired immunity can provide optimal, long-lasting, sterilizing immunity that prevents transmission and can contribute to herd immunity.

The COVID vaccines are suboptimal — they do not provide sterilizing immunity, do not prevent transmission, and, thereby, do not contribute to herd immunity. 

In fact, the COVID vaccines interfere with development of herd immunity.

11.  A rapid mass vaccination campaign, using a suboptimal vaccine (like the COVID vaccines) and vaccinating across all age groups, in the midst of an active pandemic of a highly mutable and highly infectious respiratory virus — is a recipe for abnormally generating a prolonged series of dominating new variants that become increasingly infectious, increasingly vaccine-resistant (due to “immune escape”), and inevitably more virulent. 

In other words, the mass vaccination campaign that has been implemented during the COVID pandemic has been responsible for prolonging the COVID pandemic and making it more dangerous.

12.  The vaccinal antibodies produced by the COVID vaccines:

a.     Have been increasingly failing to adequately neutralize the spike protein.

b.     Have been increasingly failing to prevent entry of SC-2 into human cells.

c.     Have not been preventing transmission of the virus from one person to another.

d.     Have been actually facilitating entry of the virus into cells — i.e., have been making the vaccinated individual more susceptible to SC-2 infection.

This occurs when the neutralizing capacity of the “neutralizing” vaccinal antibodies has greatly diminished, as is the case with current Omicron subvariants.

This represents a form of antibody dependent enhancement of infection (ADEI).

e.     Have been impairing the foundational education and the continuing education of the innate immune system.  

When given to young children, COVID vaccines prevent the child’s innate antibodies from actively teaching its innate immune effector cells how to recognize (glycosylated) viruses and distinguish them from “self” antigens (i.e., distinguish between “self” and “non-self”).

This is critical for any immune system to learn at an early stage of life (once passive maternal immune protection is no longer available) in order to provide for a healthy and appropriate immune response.

This interference with the initial foundational education of a child’s developing innate immune system renders a COVID-vaccinated child less able to handle glycosylated viruses (and glycosylated pathogens in general) and predisposes such children to immune pathology (e.g., autoimmune disease). 

And these adverse effects are irreversible. 

f.      Have been “priming” the immune system to respond to SC-2 in a narrow, inflexible, uni-dimensional, exclusionary, increasingly outdated way — instead of the comprehensive, flexible, continually updating, collaborative way in which the immune system normally responds. 

g.     Have been predisposing vaccinated people to increased risk of breakthrough infection/reinfectionand, thereby, have been predisposing the vaccinated to “immune exhaustion” — which, in turn, predisposes the vaccinated to increased infections (of many types, not just COVID) and also impairs protection against autoimmunity and malignancy. 

h.     Have possibly been providing some brief and modest protection against severe COVID disease — but this protective effect will disappear when more virulent SC-2 variants appear (which is inevitable if the mass COVID vaccination campaign is continued). 

i.      Have been causing an unacceptable number of severe adverse events in vaccinated individuals — e.g., myocarditis, blood clots/strokes, neurologic damage, sudden death, and predisposition to autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, and malignancy.

We are only beginning to see the regrettable long-term complications of the COVID vaccines. 

13.  When the risks of COVID vaccination (at both the population level and the individual level) are compared to the benefits, the risks far outweigh the benefits.

14.  Compared to children who have been vaccinated against COVID, children who remain unvaccinated against COVID will be better able to handle SC-2 infection (and other infections) — both now and when a more virulent variant appears.  

15.  Regarding Pfizer’s request for FDA approval of emergency use of its COVID vaccine in children between 6 months and 5 years of age:

a.     The data provided by Pfizer are scant, inadequate, and do not provide compelling evidence that the COVID vaccine was effective in preventing infection, hospitalization, or severe disease.

b.     Although the study concluded that the data “do not suggest any new safety concerns compared with the safety profile described in older age groups,” the median follow-up time was only 2.1 months after the 3rd dose of vaccine. 

This provides an inadequate length of time to determine safety, particularly long-term safety. 

c.     The Pfizer study was too small, too short, and was of insufficient scientific quality to warrant FDA approval.

d.     Furthermore, given Pfizer’s history of proven, convicted health care fraud and their proven inclination to hide data, their safety and efficacy data should be investigated and scrutinized not just by the FDA, but also by an independent objective panel of representative experts who have no conflicts of interest.

16.  When a more virulent variant appears, there are several proactive, protective actions we can and must take — starting with prompt and accurate diagnosis, with attention to the Ct values of positive PCR testsand appropriate use of genomic sequencing (to confirm SC-2 and determine the involved variant/subvariant). 

17.  According to the CDC, about 75% of children and adolescents now have evidence of a previous SC-2 infection, and, therefore, already have some degree of naturally acquired immunity. 

COVID vaccination of these children will not provide additional protection. 

In fact, COVID vaccination of such children will have deleterious effects on their immune function (as mentioned above).

18.  Parents desperately want to do the right thing for their children. It is best for children to not receive any of the current COVID vaccines. 

That is best for each child and it is best for the population as a whole. 

The responsible act is to resist the misguided pressure to “get vaccinated.”

The responsible act is to call for an immediate moratorium on COVID vaccination — until a proper scientific evaluation of the COVID vaccination campaign has been conducted. 

Statements that “the COVID vaccines are very effective; exceedingly safe; get vaccinated; it is your social responsibility to do so; our patience is growing thin” are scientifically inaccurate and irresponsible.

19.  Respectful, healthy, scientific dialogue about the above issues is critically important but has not sufficiently occurred among physicians, scientists, health policy makers, or the citizenry (often not even within families).

Thoughtful challenge of prevailing understandings and careful exchange of ideas is healthy, essential, and should be welcomed---particularly during the current pandemic.

20.  Please understand that I would much prefer that the questions posed in this article be answered by a representative panel of physicians and scientists with exemplary expertise in immunology, virology, vaccinology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology who would engage in thorough, respectful, scientific, video-archived dialogue about these questions.  

Parents and physicians could then view and listen to that dialogue and decide whose explanations make the most sense and whose recommendations seem wisest.  Parents and physicians (including me) deserve that opportunity.

21.  Education of physicians and the public — about the COVID vaccination campaign and the COVID situation in general — must be honest and sufficiently deep. 

Education leads to demystification and healthy unification; Mystery and confusion lead to polarization, extremism, and ugly intolerance.   

22.  Please, parents, grandparents, and physicians, consider all of the above before making your decision about vaccination of children against COVID.

23.  Parents and grandparents can play a pivotal and powerful role in challenging and reversing the ill-advised campaign to vaccinate children against COVID. 

In fact, protection of children from the harmful effects (both at the population level and at the individual level) of the COVID vaccination campaign will likely depend on the homework and thoughtful advocacy of parents and grandparents, since the CDC, FDA, pharmaceutical companies, NIH, WHO, AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), conventional media (CNN, e.g.) and silent acquiescing physicians have failed to provide that protection. 

(Source document on Dr. Lynn Fynn’s telegram channel)

Dr. Rennebohm’s website: notesfromthesocialclinic.org

Link to Part 1, An Open Letter to Parents and Pediatricians Regarding COVID Vaccination by Robert M. Rennebohm, MD

Link to Part II: Open Letter to Parents and Pediatricians Regarding COVID Vaccination - Part II: A Review and Update, by Rob Rennebohm, MD, and Geert Vanden Bossche, DVM, PhD

Audio: First recorded discussion between Geert and Rob regarding the Open Letter

Video of Dr. Rennebohm with virologist Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche (below)