ORLANDO SENTINEL – COVID-19 vaccine mandates shouldn’t apply to people with immunity acquired through infection, suggest sponsors of the “Natural Immunity Is Real Act.”
Experts on bioethics and immunology disagree, and note that there is little to no debate in the scientific community about the existence of natural immunity, gained by infection from exposure to disease, rather than by vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many studies suggest natural immunity fades over time, and a vaccine improves immunity in people who have already had COVID-19.
“This is bad science, dangerous policy and saddest of all, ideology tricked out as ethics,” said Kenneth Goodman, director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy and the Florida Bioethics Network.
The bill, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday by Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger, asks that federal regulations take into account natural immunity to COVID-19.
“Should people with natural immunity be exempt from vaccine rules?” Post your opinion below.
Discussion by the bill’s sponsors indicates it is one of the latest objections to COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the U.S.
Tension is especially high in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced he would call a special session of the Legislature in November to ban local governments and agencies from mandating COVID-19 vaccines.
He has also threatened to sue President Joe Biden’s administration over its mandate for some businesses to vaccinate or test workers for COVID-19.
In the meantime, multiple Florida congressmen endorsed this bill, which is unlikely to pass in the Democrat-controlled House. The bill has also been introduced in the Senate.
“No American should be forced to choose between getting the COVID vaccine or keeping their job,” said Florida’s eighth district Rep. Bill Posey in a news release … READ MORE.
Natural Covid Immunity Explored
A global effort seeks to understand why some people are resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infections
by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress, Oct 19, 2021
MEDICAL XPRESS – An international team of medical scientists has published a Perspective piece in the journal Nature Immunology, outlining ongoing research into why some people are resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infections.
In their paper, they note that very little is currently known about why some individuals are immune to COVID-19, but they suggest that a stronger effort to find out could lead to new ways to treat or prevent the disease.
The authors note that the pandemic has served to remind the global community of the remarkable variability in viral response—some people are asymptomatic while others get so sick that they die.
They note also the clear differences that researchers have observed; for instance, cases in which a single person in a family remains uninfected while everyone around them gets sick; or people who work in a high-risk environment but who do not get sick.
The authors also note that as of right now, no one really knows why there is such variability in response to SARS-CoV-2 infections, though there are clues … READ MORE.
“Should people with natural immunity be exempt from vaccine rules?” Post your opinion below.
