Corona infection for the immune system?

Drosten reacts to the pastor's interview and tears apart misconceptions

Created: 01/05/2022, 09:45 AM

From: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

A corona infection does not train the immune system, explains virologist Christian Drosten, thus exposing a misconception.

He made several comparisons.

Munich - The virologist and head of the Berlin Charité Christian Drosten has become a familiar face to the general public in the wake of the corona pandemic.

He has been providing information about the danger of the virus since the beginning and in particular as a result of the escalation of the pandemic and also uses social media such as Twitter in particular to share his findings.

He last caused a stir with his followers with a tweet on December 29th.

In his contribution, he opposed the idea that infection with the deadly virus would replace vaccination and strengthen the immune system.

Corona infection does not train the immune system - Virologist Drosten shoots against false beliefs on Twitter

He used a particularly interesting comparison.

"Anyone who believes that they can train their immune system through an infection must consequently also believe that they can train their digestion through a steak," wrote Drosten in the tweet.

As he later announced, the virologist responded to the interview with an unvaccinated pastor on Deutschlandfunk.

In this conversation, Pastor Bernd Rampmeier claimed that he had other options besides vaccination to protect himself and to strengthen his immune system.

The interview was “excellent”, but at the same time “the result sobering”, said von Drosten.

He then explained the steak comparison with another comparison.

"Seriously: immune reaction vs. 'strong immune system' is like learning vs. intelligence," says Drosten.

You can learn a poem by heart, but it doesn't make you more intelligent.

"I can survive an infection, but I haven't 'strengthened my immune system'", the head of the Berlin Charité stated accordingly.

He is also amazed at "how many misunderstandings and misconceptions there are about infection, vaccination and immunity".

Drosten therefore appealed to his followers to acquire more knowledge: "With a little more knowledge, many could save their aggressiveness here and instead make better decisions for themselves".

Virologist Christian Drosten attacked a corona misconception about strengthening the immune system through infection with the virus.

© Christoph Hardt / Imago

Corona misbeliefs torn apart by Drosten - followers see contradiction to earlier statements

In Drosten's words, many followers saw the comments primarily as points of criticism and contradiction.

The reason for this is the clear statements made by the virologist in his NDR podcast “Corona Update” in September: “I want to have immunity, and then I want to have my first general infection and the second and third at some point. "

Among the contributions by Drosten, the passage from the podcast could be discovered several times.

Does the virologist actually contradict himself?

However, if you take a closer look at his statements in September, you can see that he in no way equates an infection with the virus with a vaccination against corona.

After all, in the “Corona Update” he first spoke of a vaccine immunity and then a “first general infection”, which should, however, “be saddled up”.

Drosten did not claim that an infection strengthens the immune system or shows the same effect as a vaccination - not even in September.