In a landmark speech last week, President Joe Biden denounced a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” and announced a series of policies aimed at putting pressure on vaccine resistant people to be vaccinated against COVID-19. His proposals reflected aspects of policies instituted by many state governors, including Governor Kate Brown of Oregon, who instituted a vaccination mandate in her state for specific workers, including school employees and clerks. state government.
Yet some of those who have already been infected with COVID-19 and refuse vaccination, are crying outrage at federal and state vaccination requirements for some workers. For example, six workers in Oregon are suing the state in court, saying that because they have already been sick with COVID-19, they should not be forced to receive vaccines.
These Oregon workers are calling for an exception for people with natural immunity and oppose Brown’s rather than Biden’s vaccination mandates. True, their complaint may seem reasonable to a layman: in the case of many viral infections, including chickenpox, the body becomes immune after clearing an infection.
So is their objection valid? The short answer is probably no, as there is no doubt within the scientific community that the immune system appears to be better protected against the novel coronavirus after vaccination, even in those who have cleared a previous infection.
Because we lack the technology to definitively determine each individual’s level of immunity after being naturally infected, it is risky to assume that a person will automatically be protected from COVID-19 simply because they were initially sick. Studies back it up: A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on an observational study in Kentucky found that unvaccinated people were more than twice as likely as those vaccinated to be re-infected with COVID-19.
Yet there is a significant scientific debate on the Degree to which being naturally infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus confers immunity.
This brings us to the longer answer, as this is a topic over which respected scientists disagree in good faith. Dr Monica Gandhi, infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, tweeted a number of scientific articles which, in various ways, suggest that the immune system may be able to develop natural protection against COVID-19. One article, for example, described how parts of the immune system (particularly antibodies to B cells, memory B cells, and memory T cells) discovered that “substantial immune memory is generated after COVID-19, involving the four main types of immune memory. “
Of course, even the most optimistic assessments for COVID-19 must take into account studies that find that antibody-mediated immunity typically drops sharply for people who have recovered from the disease after a few months. New coronaviruses are typically the types of pathogens we are only able to build transient or temporary immunity against. The alternative is long-lasting, or long-lasting immunity. This means that scientists, instead of being able to make certain judgments about whether a person who has had COVID-19 is safe from it, must admit that they often don’t know.
“The most honest thing would be the people who say, ‘Look, we recognize that we don’t know everything about this disease,’ Dr Alfred Sommer, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School, told Salon. of Public Health. But, he noted that “from a risk perspective, getting the vaccine – even if you’ve been infected in the past – won’t hurt you and may help.”
Gandhi echoed Sommer’s emphasis on the importance of humility.
“I think it brings confidence to recognize something that there is still debate in the scientific community†on some topics related to COVID-19, Gandhi told Salon. There are points on which there is no disagreement – masks work, ivermectin does not cure COVID-19, contagious people need to distance themselves socially – but there are others where a solid debate exists. This is the case, to some extent, when it comes to the benefits of natural immunity.
“The way I would present it is a risk-benefit ratio,†Sommer explained. “What’s the risk of getting the vaccine? If you’ve had the disease before, virtually zero. What’s the potential benefit? It could be huge.” Sommer added that we also know that “if you look at the immune response six months after a natural infection, it is weaker than after a vaccination. If you take people who have had a natural infection and give them the vaccine, they all have very high antibody levels. “
Sommer also pointed to scientific precedents to advocate for the vaccination of naturally infected people. “There is no doubt that in almost all of the existing vaccines, some vaccines more than others, the further away you get from the time you had the infection or the vaccine, the lower your immunity level,” he said. added Sommer. “Some things give you immunity for life, but these are very rare.”
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An Israeli study demonstrated this point in real time. A large Israeli study has found that the natural immunity developed after being infected with the delta strain of SARS-CoV-2 is more effective than two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. On the one hand, that would apparently justify people who tout the benefits of natural immunity – but if natural immunity alone was enough, people could intentionally get infected like they do with chickenpox. Yet it risks killing itself or someone else.
The best way to minimize this risk is to get the vaccine as well. The same study found that previously infected people who received at least one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were better protected than people who had developed only natural immunity. Scientists have long recognized that there are benefits to having both natural immunity and vaccine protection.
“It is believed that ‘the natural infection is not as protective as the vaccine,†Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Salon via email. natural infection by getting you vaccinated as well. â€This is called hybrid immunity, Benjamin explained, and that means getting the vaccine will improve the protection you receive from natural immunity. Getting the vaccine is also the most effective way to prevent reinfection, serious illness and death, more than just having natural immunity.
Under Biden’s new plan, all employers with more than 100 workers will need to require vaccines or weekly tests; all federal workers and contractors doing business with the federal government must be vaccinated; and all healthcare workers whose facilities receive Medicare or Medicaid funding should be immunized. Biden’s policies are expected to apply directly to around 100 million Americans (the nation has a population of around 330 million) and also face plausible threats of prosecution.
