A very scary tweet about Covid from the WHO

[Ms. Toad]

44. Not missing the point at all,

And my daughter with an overactive immune system is at such a high risk for cancer BECAUSE of her 2 autoimmune disorders, starting at age 19, she has to have an MRI scan and an ultrasound alternating every 6 months to detect 4 of the 5 cancers she is likely to acquire BECAUSE of her overactive immune system early enough to have a snowball's chance in hell of catching them in time to treat them. She has a colonoscopy every year to detect the 5th cancer for which she has an increased risk. And, she is also about to start a new treatment which puts her at risk for a 6th cancer (as do many of the current treatments for autoimmune disorders).

So it is not, as a general rule, true that those with overactive immune systems are less likely to get cancer. Some of the increased risk many face is inherent in the disease (the first 5 cancers for which my daughter is at a dramatically increased risk - colon, pancreatic, gall bladder, liver, bile ducts). Some are treatment-related (TNF blockers, methotrexate (commonly given with TNF blockers))

And, as I noted earlier, people who are vaccinated for chicken pox can still get shingles, and cervical cancer is still possible even with HPV. The risk is significantly lower, but not zero. (Not to mention that both have been available for around 2 decades (not sure why the reference to "just started&quot ).

Viruses do not, in general, cause autoimmune disorders. The general pathway for most autoimmune disorders is a genetic predisposition coupled with one or more environmental triggers (which can be, but is not always, a virus) that kicks the immune system into overdrive. For my daughter we have identified both the genetic predisposiiton and the trigger (allergic reaction to poultry) for her first disease. For the second we have not identified either - but it arises almost exclusively within the population that shares her first autoimmune disease.

That is not to say that viruses are not a promising tool in the fight against cancer. Simply that I have not seen evidence yet that COVID falls within the virus categories I am aware of for which there is solid causation evidence as to cancer.