New studies evaluated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] show that vaccines are more reliable in producing consistent neutralizing antibodies against Covid-19 infection than natural immunity from having the infection. Since Biden announced vaccine mandates Sept. 9 for federal employees, the “right-to-choose” group of anti-vaxxers argue that it’s a personal choice to put any chemical in your body, regardless of public health concerns. New data reported by the CDC confirms that previously infected Covid-19 patients have a robust level of immunity similar to the immunity developed from vaccines. Vaccines provide a “higher, more robust, and more consistent level of immunity to protect people from Covid-19 than infection alone,” said the CDC. In light of the more consistent response of neutralizing antibodies, the CDC urges previously infected people to get vaccinated.
When 78-year-old President Joe Biden issued his vaccine mandates Sept. 9 for a 100 million workers and federal employees, the anti-vaxxer community went wild. Most believe it’s a health care right to determine what goes into their body, not up to the government to impose vaccinations. But as Biden watched infections around the country continue to rise, with the death rates exceeding over 5 million worldwide, Biden felt he had no choice but to mandate vaccines. While new CDC data shows that vaccines are preferred over natural immunity, the data show that natural immunity also prevents Covid-19 infections. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Ut.) and Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tn.) have advanced their Real Act in Congress to acknowledge that natural immunity is an acceptable substitute to vaccine immunity. CDC officials have no test for Covid-19 infected people to test for neutralizing antibodies.
Lee and Harabarger want the Biden administration to recognize that natural immunity is an acceptable alternative to vaccines. Both elected officials want the Biden White House to follow the “science” not impose vaccines on all citizens. “The politics are as complicated as the science,” said Andrew T. Pavia, professor of pediatrics and infectious disease at the University of Utah. “T think there is a tension between conveying the scientific gray areas and the need to combat the ‘natural infection is better’ misinformation that has taken hold. I thin the review threads that needle well,” said Pavia. CDC officials don’t deny that prior infected people have “natural immunity,” the data shows that vaccines boost immunity for everyone, including those with past infections. CDC officials are looking at recovering Covid-19 patients only receiving one vaccine to boost immunity.
No government health scientists can track the path of prior infected patients as opposed to those that have received vaccines. Testing for neutralizing antibodies in both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with prior immunity is now impossible by CDC officials. So, in dealing with the best way to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the U.S. population, the CDC prefers vaccinations because of their more predictable outcome and data set. Breakthrough cases of Covdi-19 with vaccinated patients raises doubts about the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, whether the new mRNA variety or the older adenovirus technology indicated that no vaccines can rule out Covid-19 infections. But what the CDC knows, based on a review of the data, is that vaccines provide more protection that natural immunity alone. CDC officials urge Covid-19 survivors to also get at leas one vaccine.
Debating about which is more effective, vaccines or natural immunity from prior infection, doesn’t help gain control of Covid-19 over the vast U.S. population. “I think with more data, we might consider one infection equivalent to one immunizing even that could count as one of the two or three doses that people need of their vaccines,” Pavia said. Pavia believes there’s not enough data yet to recommend that prior-infected patients forgo vaccines because of sufficient natural immunity. European Medicines Agency [EMA], the equivalent of the FDA, urges prior-infected Covid-19 patients to get at least one dose of the vaccine. “Consider that one dose of the vaccine,” said Philadelphia Children’s Hospital PolicyLab Dr. David Rubin. Most public health officials don’t want to distinguish between prior-infected patients when it comes to taking Covid-19 vaccines.
U.S. and European Union health officials know that prior-infected Covid-19 patients can’t offer past infections as a substitute for vaccines. Biden’s Sept. 9 decision to order vaccine mandates was probably illegal, giving current federal rules related to patients decision making when it comes to medicines and treatments. Whether he can override patients’ rights citing the global pandemic isn’t known. “Do we defer the point at which they have to show proof of vaccination? That the ongoing discussion that we’re having,” Pavia said, not knowing what to do with people with natural immunity from past Covid-19 infections. It’s far easier for the government to track the infection rates of people with vaccines than those with natural immunity. “We would like clear guidance from CDC on how to handle previous infection in planning the timing of infection for people who have to be vaccinated.”
