Republicans embracing natural immunity as vaccine substitute
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republicans fighting President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates are wielding a new weapon against the rules: natural immunity.
They contend that people who have recovered from the virus have enough immunity and antibodies to not need COVID-19 vaccines, and the concept has been invoked by Republicans as a sort of stand-in for vaccines.
Florida wrote natural immunity into state law this week as GOP lawmakers elsewhere are pushing measures to sidestep vaccine mandates. Lawsuits over the mandates have also begun leaning on the idea. Conservative federal lawmakers have implored regulators to consider it when formulating mandates.
Scientists acknowledge that people previously infected with COVID-19 have some immunity but that vaccines offer a more consistent level of protection. Natural immunity is also far from one-size-fits-all, making it complicated to enact sweeping exemptions to vaccines.
That’s because how much immunity COVID-19 survivors have depends on how long ago they were infected, how sick they were, and if the virus variant they had is different from mutants circulating now. For example, a person who had a minor case one year ago is much different than a person who had a severe case over the summer when the delta variant was raging through the country. It’s also difficult to reliably test whether someone is protected from future infections.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in August that COVID-19 survivors who ignored advice to get vaccinated
were over twice as likely to get infected again. A more recent study from the CDC, looking at data from nearly 190 hospitals in nine states, determined that unvaccinated people who had been infected months earlier were five times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people who didn’t have a prior infection.
Studies also show COVID19 survivors who get vaccinated develop extra-strong protection, what’s called “hybrid immunity.” For a previously infected person, the shot acts like a booster and revs virus-fighting antibodies to high levels. The combination also strengthens another layer of the immune system, helping create new antibodies that are more likely to withstand future variants.
The immunity debate comes as the country is experiencing another surge in infections and hospitalizations and 60 million people remain unvaccinated in a pandemic that has killed over 770,000 Americans. Mr. Biden is hoping more people will get vaccinated because of workplace mandates set to take effect early next year, but those face
many court challenges.
Many Republicans eager to buck Mr. Biden have embraced the argument that immunity from infections should be enough to earn an exemption from mandates.
“We recognize, unlike what you see going on with the federal proposed mandates and other states, we’re actually doing a sciencebased approach. For example, we recognize people that have natural immunity,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been a chief critic of virus rules, said at a signing ceremony for legislation to hobble vaccine mandates this week.
The new Florida law forces private businesses to
let workers opt out of COVID19 mandates if they can prove immunity through a prior infection, as well as exemptions based on medical reasons, religious beliefs, regular testing or an agreement to wear protective gear. The state health department, led by Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who opposes mandates and has drawn national attention over a refusal to wear a face mask during a meeting, will have authority to define exemption standards.