Don't Ask

I would have put this in my News Weakly edition, but it was too long, so I'm putting it here. And I apologize, because, much to my chagrin, it's more of a rant than a mere entry.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asked Dr. Fauci whether people who have tested positive for COVID needed to get the vaccine, given the data that people who recovered from the virus have a lower risk of contracting it. Fauci's response was, "I don't have a really firm answer for you on that. That's something that we're going to have to discuss regarding the durability of the response." Really? Fauci added, "I think that is something that we need to sit down and discuss seriously." Do you think??

According to the CDC, "The risk of infection, hospitalization, and death are all much lower in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated." There are, then, two kinds of people when it comes to COVID -- the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

The CDC indicates that of the roughly 180 million fully vaccinated people in America, 0.0064% were hospitalized from breakthrough COVID and 0.0015% died of COVID. Moderna is reporting that, of the 11,431 subjects who were vaccinated in 2020, 1.4% got COVID and of the more recent test cases, 0.6% got COVID. (Note an interesting difference in the data. Moderna reported on those who got COVID; the CDC reported on those who were hospitalized (or died). Finding numbers for the percentage of vaccinated people who got COVID (hospitalized or not) is very difficult, but it is necessarily higher than those who were hospitalized or died.) (I have a vaccinated coworker who got COVID, was off work for more than 4 weeks, and never went to the hospital. Case in point.) We have always known that the vaccine is of limited efficacy, as all vaccines are, and now we know that the duration of the protection is not as long as we had hoped.

Now, consider. Over the past 20 months we've seen more than 41 million Americans (around 13% of the population) contract and survive COVID. (Of those who got it, more than 98% have survived.) Research says that reinfection in these cases is less than 0.65%. Research also suggests that immunity from the vaccine decreases much more rapidly than from contracting the virus itself. T cells are the memory part of our immune system. T cell studies found that patients who recovered from SARS-CoV-1 had reactive T cells 17 years after infection. This suggests that there are three categories of people in terms of COVID and not just two. There is the vaccinated category, the immunized-by-COVID category, and the unvaccinated category. Ranking the risks in these three categories, the safest people are the naturally immunized, followed by the vaccinated.

Why, then, do we keep pushing this "vaccinated/unvaccinated" distinction without any reference to natural immunization? (I'm ignoring completely those with natural immunity. A study in June, 2020, found SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells in 40%-60% of unexposed individuals, suggesting a natural immunity for a significant number of people.) No one saying, "If you've had COVID, you're safer than if you have been vaccinated. You're welcome here." Why? Why aren't these vaccine mandates including a "I've had COVID" exemption?

One more thought here on COVID safety, vaccines, and mandates. I'm just asking a question. Consider Person A and Person B. Both work at the same place. Their employer has required that everyone either get vaccinated or get tested. Person A chooses to be vaccinated; Person B opts out. Now Person A goes to work with a vaccine and Person B goes to work with a negative COVID test. Which person constitutes the greater risk of spreading COVID? "The unvaccinated!" you might reply, but is that true? He is positively COVID negative. Person A is vaccinated, but we all understand that the vaccine is not foolproof, that those who are vaccinated can get COVID and can spread COVID. In fact, given the promised decreased symptoms (if any), it is not hard to imagine that Person A could have COVID and spread COVID without knowing it. Person B cannot because Person B has been tested.

It is questions like these that make me wonder about who is running this show, who is asking (or, rather, not asking) these questions, and if we are getting the best information and plans. Are there ulterior motives driving these vaccination mandates? Are we wise surrendering our freedoms for the supposed sake of security when no one appears to be looking at these things? But, of course, in a culture which claims that the only people who question the vaccine are conspiracy theorists and right-wing whackos, the only right approach is "Don't ask."