Editor, Commonwealth:
Natural immunity developed from exposure to or contracting the COVID-19 virus is superior to any of the three vaccines offered in the United States. Immunity your system builds naturally lasts longer than the COVID shots do, is more robust, and is expected to arm your body against more variants of the coronavirus.
But proof of natural immunity (testing positive for antibodies) is not being accepted under mandates that employees or students show proof of vaccination.
When a vaccine mandate is imposed by a government, a school or other employer, why doesn’t their rule say: Either show that you have been vaccinated or show that you carry natural antibodies?
George Whitten Jr.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimburses long-term care facilities for tending to certain elderly people. CMS announced last month that if a nursing home refuses to fire any unvaccinated employee, then CMS will cut off funds to that nursing home. Soon, the same rule may extend to hospitals, dialysis facilities and home health agencies. In order to continue receiving money under Medicaid or Medicare, each nursing home must prove that all persons it employs have been vaccinated. CMS does not accept proof that an employee carries natural immunity.
By executive order issued Thursday, the King of these United States directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to order every firm, company and nonprofit organization that employs more than 100 persons either to fire any employee who is not vaccinated, or to bar unvaccinated employees from coming to the workplace unless they were tested within the past week and tested negative for COVID-19. That “emergency” rule will probably go into effect in a month or so. Why does the president’s order not allow employers to keep employing persons who prove they have natural antibodies?
Bill Crawford in his Sept. 9 column presented “The case for mandates.” He wrote that our “State Department of Health (MSDH) has recommended all Mississippians age 12 and up get vaccinated.” Those health officials fail to mention natural immunity as an alternative to getting vaccinated. Likewise, the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson requires all its employees to be vaccinated, even those who got infected, recovered and now possess natural immunity. The Biden-Harris administration is requiring all federal employees in the executive branch to get vaccinated. Those who already possess natural immunity are not exempted.
Similarly, Mr. Crawford left no room for immunity acquired naturally. Nor did he tell what percentage of unvaccinated Mississippians possess natural immunity. The “Delta (variant) is so contagious that everybody will either get vaccinated or get the virus and get infected,” says Dr. Marty Makary, professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “So we want folks to get vaccinated if they’ve not had the virus already.”
Most newspapers and TV news shows give no coverage to the epidemiologists (Dr. Harvey Risch at Yale), scientific studies (by Emory University published in July; one in Israel published in August), and other medical specialists (Dr. Peter McCullough at Baylor) who observe that natural immunity is superior to getting vaccinated.
Being fixated on vaccines leaves health officials and newspaper columnists with a glaring blind spot. Did they forget about natural immunity? Staying mum about natural immunity, about early treatments as soon as symptoms appear, and about preventive measures to boost our immune systems arouses suspicion that the fixation on vaccines is profit-driven or power-hungry.
George Whitten Jr.
Greenwood
