Nina Panikssery

It was published in a top epidemiology journal in late 2022, available online November 2022, well before the review was written.

Accordingly, they hedge their conclusions carefully.

Attendants at formal childcare may tip the balance in favour of infection now rather than later, but their press release ignores any nuance, referring to daycare as an immune bootcamp.

So overall, the compensatory immunity claim seems very weak and my prior that daycare illness is straight-up bad remains.

Parents are citing biased reviews from motivated researchers.

We are only beginning to understand the deleterious effects of increased viral load in infants.

I predict that in the future we'll learn more about the side effects of increased viral load on intelligence, well-being, fatigue, etc.

The just-the-sniffles mentality is a harmful attitude toward infections that promotes the dismissal of phenomena that substantially impact child and adult well-being.

This article was narrated by Type 3 Audio for Less Wrong.

It was published on April 13, 2026.

Images are included in the podcast episode description.