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Originally Posted by Opie
Well it wasn't a cold, 1 rapid test and 1 PCR both confirmed it was, indeed Covid, and if both tests were false positives as you suggest, that would open the possibility that the entire actual number of US cases relying on these tests is skewed. In my case I self isolated from the time I tested positive until 10 days after my fever was gone, as recommend by my Doctor. As I mentioned previously, I have been wearing a mask at any time I am around other people since Fauci changed his mind on masks...
I think everyone here agrees that each person is different and this virus effects people differently, so why treat every person the same regarding the vaccines when there are those who have strong natural defenses against this virus, and then there are those that don't. The response for each should be different.
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False positives seem far, far rarer than false negatives. This is apparent when we consider that it is harder to contaminate a sample to get a reaction than it is to poorly collect a sample or use the reagents correctly to attain a reaction.
I think Dadhawk clarified that it is hard to know. Even for those who have survived COVID, it is not known how someone might respond to reinfection or to a different strain. The best evidence suggests that the acquired immunity from the vaccine is likely to be more effective and longer lasting than the acquired immunity from infection. Why? Because the spike protein is the achilles heal of the virus, so building a robust and lasting immunity/antibodies to this specific part of the virus is best.
I'll explain with an analogy. Say you were the cops, and you wanted to stop a car in a pursuit. You could try the fishtail maneuver, but it doesn't work. You try shooting at the driver, but it doesn't work. You shoot out the tires, but now the car just has flats, and it is still bareling down the road and hitting everything in its path. You box it in, but it wiggles free. You break off the side mirror in your attempts to push it off the road, but that did nothing. You happen to smack the car in the battery enough that the electronics flicker, but the car moved on. Eventually you managed to shoot a hole in the gas tank, but that doesn't stop the car, yet the car runs out of gas fast, and it stops, so it worked; you stopped the car. A week later you are in another pursuit and decide to shoot out the gas tank like before. You waste a lot of time attempting to shoot a hole in the gas tank, but this gas tank is shielded, so it doesn't work, and the car almost gets away. Another cop comes along and shoots something at the car that fries the electronics of the car, and the car immediately stops.
People who survive COVID may have developed antibodies to the spike protein or to any other protein or part of the virus. This was successful, but the level of any one antibody wasn't prevalent enough to hold onto very long, so there wasn't lasting immunity or very robust immunity. Conversely, those that got the vaccine have antibodies to the spike protein in high enough numbers that immunity is long lasting and robust. Using the analogy above, this is like arming every cop car with an electronics disabler, so they can stop every car chase immediately. It also will work all the time because every car has electronics. Similarly, every variant has a spike protein, but may not have the other proteins or be as effective.
Like I said before, we are far better off getting to herd immunity through vaccinations than through infections. Not only because less people are sick or die, and because our healthcare system and industries don't have to deal with the strain of the pandemic, but we will not be acting as a giant reservoir for the virus to multiply and evolve. Each new host is a new opportunity for the virus to mutate into something more virulent or different enough that previously acquired immunity is no longer effective.