{"id":85536,"date":"2021-09-22T17:52:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T21:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=85536"},"modified":"2021-09-22T17:52:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T21:52:27","slug":"health-agencies-are-ignoring-natural-immunity-sen-ron-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=85536","title":{"rendered":"Why Are Health Agencies Still &#8220;Ignoring Natural Immunity&#8221; &#8212; Sen. Ron Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Sen. Johnson: Health Agencies Are<br \/>\n\u2018Ignoring Natural Immunity\u2019<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Zachary Stieber<br \/>\nThe Epoch Times<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top American health officials are ignoring or downplaying so-called\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-natural-immunity\">natural immunity<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0or the protection people enjoy after recovering from COVID-19, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/sen-ron-johnson-700x420.jpg?itok=OXQlcnl_\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/sen-ron-johnson-700x420.jpg?itok=OXQlcnl_\" data-link-option=\"0\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/sen-ron-johnson-700x420.jpg?itok=OXQlcnl_\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"8530fa21-9aef-4a8b-b3d7-2fe46efc542c\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\">\n<aside id=\"in-content-video\" class=\"Advert_verticallySpaced__wnPy3\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_video_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>Science the senator has reviewed, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/previous-covid-19-infection-protects-against-delta-variant-better-than-pfizer-vaccine-study_3967844.html\">a real-world study from Israel<\/a>, indicates that natural immunity is at similar levels as or even better than vaccination. But U.S. health authorities continue urging everybody, regardless of prior infection, to get a COVID-19 jab.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>\u201cWe\u2019re ignoring natural immunity, even though the Israeli study now shows it\u2019s 27 times more effective,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Johnson said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That makes sense because natural immunity \u201crecognizes the entire virus\u201d while the vaccine was designed to prevent infection from the original form of the virus, he added.<\/p>\n<p>COVID-19 is the disease caused by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/giving-the-right-name-to-the-virus-causing-a-worldwide-pandemic-2_3277200.html\">CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and top health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said immunity post-infection exists but is not as strong as vaccination. They have downplayed or dismissed studies like the one from Israel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said earlier this month he did not have a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/fauci-no-firm-answer-on-why-americans-who-recovered-from-covid-19-should-get-vaccinated_3992591.html\">firm answer<\/a>\u201d on why people who recover from COVID-19 should get a shot.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt is true they do have protection,\u201d he added on CNN on Sunday. But he argued that data does not yet show how durable the protection is and whether it\u2019s affected by different variants of the CCP virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not denying at all that people who get infected and recover have a considerable degree of immunity. We also know\u2014and I think we should not let this pass without saying it\u2014that when you get infected and recover, A, you get a good degree of immunity, but, B, when you get vaccinated, you dramatically increase that protection, which is something that\u2019s really quite good,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Asked for what informed that assertion,\u00a0NIAID pointed The Epoch Times in an email to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.abj2258\">an opinion piece<\/a>\u00a0from June that was funded by the institute, an NPR\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2021\/09\/07\/1033677208\/new-studies-find-evidence-of-superhuman-immunity-to-covid-19-in-some-individuals\">article<\/a>, Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%22hybrid%20immunity%22%20@erictopol&amp;src=typed_query\">posts<\/a>\u00a0by Scripps Research Translational Institute founder Eric Topol, and a Google search for \u201chybrid immunity,\u201d a term that refers to somebody who recovered from COVID-19 and has received a vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0CDC has promoted a similar view. Director Rochelle Walensky last month\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/covid-19-vaccines-offer-more-protection-than-previous-infection-study_3937223.html\">cited<\/a>\u00a0a small Kentucky study that researchers said showed people who were vaccinated had more protection than the previously infected and that natural immunity plus vaccines were best.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But others, including some researchers, have questioned the push. Among the concerns: the focus should be on vaccinating people who don\u2019t have natural immunity and remain unvaccinated, including people in other countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of Johnson\u2019s main concerns is the huge jump in reports to the\u00a0Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a passive database run jointly by the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Between Jan. 1, 1996, and June 30, 2021, the number of adverse events reported following administration of flu vaccines totaled 171,732. In the nine months leading up to June 30, there were over 701,000 such reports for COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/vaers-johnson.jpg?itok=pETguBy1\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/vaers-johnson.jpg?itok=pETguBy1\" data-link-option=\"0\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/vaers-johnson.jpg?itok=pETguBy1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"373\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"35c16f10-c332-4246-920b-105133e66600\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>(Courtesy of Sen. Johnson)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The number of reported deaths post-COVID vaccination, meanwhile, totaled 14,925 as of Sept. 10. Reports of death following every other vaccine were 9,001.<\/p>\n<p><strong>People who have suffered side effects following vaccination \u201cfeel abandoned by the drug companies, federal health agencies, and the medical community,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Johnson wrote in a letter this year to Walensky, FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.<\/p>\n<p>Federal officials have said there\u2019s no proven link between any of the deaths and a COVID-19 vaccine. They have added some side effect warnings to the labels of vaccines after investigating adverse event reports, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/cdc-investigating-cases-of-neurological-disorder-after-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine_3898348.html\">Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome<\/a>, but are still recommending virtually everybody get a jab.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC still utilizes data from VAERS to evaluate vaccines but also draws from active surveillance systems. It cited data from the reporting system in April when lifting a recommended pause on Johnson &amp; Johnson\u2019s vaccine. Officials with the agency and the FDA regularly use the data in presentations to their respective vaccine advisory committees.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC and FDA did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson has received little information from the agencies on questions regarding natural immunity, VAERS, and other pandemic-related topics, including early treatment for COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>The pattern is one of a lack of transparency, the senator told The Epoch Times. He also denounced what he sees as health agencies not focusing enough on treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Few treatments are officially sanctioned for COVID-19 some 16 months after the start of the pandemic, and one of the main ones is being rationed because there\u2019s apparently not enough to go around.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>\u201cHad our federal health agencies devoted sufficient effort and research to help develop effective early treatment, thousands of lives could have been saved,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Johnson wrote in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ronjohnson.senate.gov\/2021\/9\/sen-johnson-develop-and-offer-early-treatment-for-covid-rather-than-slandering-those-who-advocate-it\">a recent letter<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Doctors, that the senator has spoken to, say treatments that have proven successful include\u00a0vitamin C, vitamin D, and hydroxychloroquine. He plans to send a letter, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), on behalf of a group of doctors, to regulators asking for emergency use authorization for\u00a0budesonide, which has shown signs of working against COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cWe\u2019re going to always need early treatment. We\u2019ll always need it,\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/sen-johnson-health-agencies-are-ignoring-natural-immunity_4008940.html\">https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/sen-johnson-health-agencies-are-ignoring-natural-immunity_4008940.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Johnson: Health Agencies Are \u2018Ignoring Natural Immunity\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}