There's an elephant in the room for every Covid conversation, personally or professionally. Its name is Natural Immunity.
Immunity from Covid, yes, but also from political discourse. It doesn't fit into anyone's narrative, other than the purely scientific. On the right, many are anti-vax for reasons that don't have much of a basis in verifiable data. This doesn't mean anecdotal evidence from personal experiences or friends of friends is baseless, it just means it doesn't win arguments. On the left, the idea that everyone should be vaxxed does not jibe with natural immunity, and therefore, so far, it has mostly been ignored.
But that is changing.
The "mainstream" press is starting to (barely) ask the natural immunity question, after 18 months of ignoring it. And now, these are the two questions that should be asked any time a CDC, FDA, POTUS, or FAUCI get in front of a microphone:
1. Why haven't these organizations been monitoring the effects of natural immunity the entire time?
There are, indeed, some studies on the subject, but they have not gotten the weight of the government's attention or vast resources whatsoever. This, despite the fact that developing natural immunity is a part of the cycle concerning ANY virus, including the novel coronavirus from Wuhan.
Any time the Fauci's of the world are pressed on the issue, which is not often, they site that they don't have enough data. Well, guess whose fault that is!
2. Why is the conversation still centered around the vaccine, even when discussing natural immunity?
When journalists are barely brave enough to broach the subject, they always do so in the context of the vaccine. They will acknowledge that natural immunity exists, only to then turn and claim that getting vaccinated still makes sense for those who had Covid.
Again, why? If they don't "have enough data," then how can they come to these leading conclusions?
In a recent interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, "When you do get infected, you get strong immunity, there's no doubt about that." Sounds like the conversation could end there, but of course it does not.
"The durability is unclear," Fauci continues. This highlights my first point. Why is the durability unclear? Because they haven't studied natural immunity as much as the vaccine. And they still don't know about the durability of the vaccines either, otherwise, we wouldn't be debating booster shots. So while he may be factually correct that we don't know how long natural immunity lasts, we do know that it is probably longer than the vaccines, which are already wearing out.
"Do you think we'll be able to get data to find out, for instance, if you've had Covid, maybe you only need one shot?" Chuck Todd asks, highlighting my second point. They're still trying to frame natural immunity as insufficient when they just told you that they don't have enough data to actually know that.
Thankfully, at least the question is breaking through the national discussion. At last.
But if you want to know the real answer to the two questions listed here in bold, the answer is simple. A very big, powerful, increasingly consuming government cannot track natural immunity. And tracking you, cradling you, and whipping you back into line if you dare get out is ultimately the point of a government so big it can force you to lose your job if you don't comply with its demands.
Ryan Wiggins is the host of Wiggins America on 97.1 in St. Louis, MO, and the author of The Life of Human, a tongue-in-cheek science fiction robot novel.
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