COVID-19 Measles Connection v1.6

Abstract

This report published online and emailed to Dr. Anthony Fauci at NIAID on March 29, 2020.

Full text

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COVID-19 / MEASLES CONNECTION v1.6
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(This report published online and emailed to Dr. Anthony Fauci at NIAID on March 29, 2020.)
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Widely used MMR, MR and live attenuated measles vaccines (referred collectively herein as
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"MCV" or measles containing vaccines) are theorized by the author to be the reason why
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children, teenagers and other young adults rarely have symptoms from COVID-19, and few if
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any deaths can be attributed to COVID-19 in young populations. The author will go on to
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explain herein why there are so many different outcomes related to COVID-19 happening in
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different countries.
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In countries where vaccination "catch up" programs have been instituted in recent decades where
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two doses of MCV have been properly given to older teenagers and young adults, there seems to
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be the lowest incidence of deaths, and in a few instances no deaths at all, from COVID-19.
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Unlike most countries which only give MCV to children, several countries which have reported
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zero deaths and zero cases of COVID-19 have had aggressive MCV programs which include a
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large percent of the adult population: North Korea (many adults vaccinated through age 45),
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Turkmenistan (many adults vaccinated through age 40), Cook Islands (many adults vaccinated
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through age 35), Marshall Islands (many adults vaccinated through age 40), Solomon Islands
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(many adults vaccinated through age 29), and Tuvalu (many adults vaccinated through age 34).
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[MCV DATA FROM WHO USED HEREIN:
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https://www.who.int/immunization/monitoring_surveillance/data/Summary_Measles_SIAs.xls ]
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Other countries which have had MCV programs reaching beyond young children are also seeing
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fewer and in some cases no deaths from COVID-19. Such countries include: South Korea,
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Russia, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Sudan, Maldives, Libya, Kuwait, Djibouti,
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Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Republic of Georgia, El Salvador, Uruguay, Nicaragua,
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Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala, Belarus, Armenia, Oman, Somalia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Sri
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Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia.
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One small country in Asia, Bhutan, with zero COVID-19 deaths, has in recent years vaccinated
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nearly their entire population of children and adults with MCV.
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Also of note, South Korea had a huge outbreak of measles in 2000 - 2001 (55,707 reported
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cases) resulting in the government going back and vaccinating its population well above the
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typical child-only MCV protocols in most other countries. South Korea is showing an unusually
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low incidence of death from COVID-19 as compared to other countries with similar populations
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infected at the same time.
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[ SOUTH KOREA MEASLES OUTBREAK:
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3534158/ ]
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Hong Kong in response to a Measles outbreak close to the same time as the one in South Korea,
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initiated a large “catch up” MCV program. As of March 28, 2020 only four people have died
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from COVID-19 in Hong Kong despite its proximity to mainland China.
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[ HONG KONG MEASLES CAMPAIGN: https://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/80(7)585.pdf ]
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, Italy had a large scale measles outbreak in 2017 affecting
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over 4,000, caused by a much lower than typical MCV rate in that country. The lack of sufficient
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MCV is perhaps the reason why there are so many more deaths in Italy from COVID-19 when
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compared to most other similarly affected countries. According to one researcher, the
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immunization rate in Italy in 2005 was just 85%, one of the lowest in Europe.
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[ ITALY MEASLES OUTBREAK: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28933342 ]
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[ INADEQUATE VACCINATION IN ITALY:
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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5243a4.htm ]
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[ MEASLE VACCINATION RATES IN IN ITALY:
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6321942/ ]
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Analysis of data related to topics like MCV are, of course, never straightforward. For example,
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Iran is one of the countries that has been hardest hit by COVID-19 deaths, yet Iran engaged in an
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aggressive MCV strategy in 2003. Iran vaccinated over 33 million of its citizens that year, up
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through age 25. Assuming the theory put forward herein is validated, it seems contradictory that
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Iran's death rate would be so high. The possible reason for this becomes more clear once the data
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is examined further. A study in 2007 found that just a few years after Iran's immunization
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program, measles immunity levels were as low as 72.7% in vaccinated children aged 11-15. It is
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known that immunity levels continue to decrease over time, so now, another 13 years later, it is
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likely that immunity levels are even lower. The reason Iran's ambitious vaccination program
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failed to live up to expectations was that only one vaccination was given, while two vaccinations
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at least 28 days apart are required for proper effectiveness of an MCV.
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[ MEASLES VACCINE FAILURE IN IRAN:
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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197120700080X ]
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Young children may be the most protected from COVID-19 because not only have nearly all
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children received two MCV, mothers of current generation children and teens have also most
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likely also had two MCV themselves, thus providing additional passive immunity to infants.
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The efficacy of MCV has been shown to go down with age, leaving some of those who received
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the vaccines in their youth more vulnerable as they age. Further, people over age 60 likely never
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received any form of MCV. As a side note, it would be interesting to investigate whether there is
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any correlation between having had a prior case of measles and either a higher or lower
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incidence of death or complications from COVID-19. A 2019 Harvard report describes how
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measles wipes out 20 to 50% of antibodies against viruses and bacteria unrelated to measles
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itself.
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[ MEASLES AND IMMUNE AMNESIA:
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191031204630.htm ]
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It would also be useful to research titer levels for MCV in young, healthy people who are getting
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sick or dying from COVID-19. Equally useful would be to examine titer levels of elderly people
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who are unaffected by COVID-19 despite living in close quarters with an infected person.
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Outside of countries where MCV have been widely given to adults, many adults get additional
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MCV as part of a vaccine protocol when traveling to certain countries.
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[ MEASLES VACCINES FOR TRAVELERS: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/plan-for-
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travel.html ]
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The exact mechanism of the protective effect of current MCV for COVID-19 needs to be further
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explored. A live measles vaccine has previously been considered in studies as a base for other
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Coronavirus vaccines including SARS. Novel alphacoronaviruses and paramyxoviruses (the
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measles family) have also been found to cocirculate. Further, MCV have been shown to
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generally increase immunity against many unrelated viruses.
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[ PROTECTION FROM SARS CORONAVIRUS WITH A LIVE MEASLES VACCINE:
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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682214000051 ]
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[ VIRUSES COCIRCULATE: https://aem.asm.org/content/83/18/e01326-17 ]
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[ MEASLES VACCINES ADDITIONAL BENEFITS:
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28646947 ]
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In reaching the connection described herein regarding a possible association between MCV and
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COVID-19, data sets consisting of people who test positive for COVID-19 were not used since
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such data is currently grossly incomplete and widely inconsistent. Similarly, data regarding death
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rate in a given population (as compared to total number of people with COVID-19) was also not
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used since it is based upon the same inconsistent COVID-19 testing protocols. As such, the data
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reviewed for the analysis described herein was simply a review of total number of COVID-19
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related deaths in any given country, compared to that country’s MCV protocols. On initial
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review, it appears that the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in any given country and the
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rate at which the total number of deaths from COVID-19 may or may not be increasing in that
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country, appears to correlate with the rate and style of MCV protocols.
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In conclusion, the author believes the use of MCV should be investigated further to determine if
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an aggressive MCV program with two MCV spaced 28 days apart could quickly and
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economically protect vulnerable populations from COVID-19.
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Contact: Jeff Gold ( text: 706-769-9696 )
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