“The extremely fit Australian scientist, who hiked, biked and surfed…had been bolstered by four doses of vaccine. Having spent nearly four decades studying how white blood cells…protect us from infection, he felt pretty safe about removing his mask.” thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/…

“Maybe it would be better to catch the ’rona and get it over with, now that I’m fully vaccinated?” he remembers speculating. “After all, isn’t it just a cold in fully immunized people? And once I’ve had it, won’t I have acquired immunity that will mean I won’t get sick...?”

"But Omicron made a mockery of these popular assumptions. "On May 26, Goodnow came down with a scratchy throat. Twelve days later his immune system had not cleared the virus. Then he got hit by congestive heart failure. He developed a chest cough and was breathless."

"Goodnow was lucky. His acute myocarditis…was on the mild end of the spectrum but severe enough to reduce his mobility and working life. "Goodnow resigned his directorship of the Immunogenomics Lab at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney...'for health reasons'"

"Like many [inattentive] scientists Goodnow assumed that any infection after vaccination would be mild; that reinfections would largely be asymptomatic; that COVID would behave like a cold after vaccination; and that variant-specific vaccines would deliver us from the pandemic."

"But the Australian immunologist who once believed he 'had a pretty good handle on COVID' now believes this: 'We can’t just have this virus become something we get two or three times a year. It is not just acceptable' given 'the social, personal and economic costs.'"

"For now, Goodnow has his own plan to avoid the dangers posed by cumulative reinfections: 'I’m dropping my COVID hubris and donning a mask.'" thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/…