Fauci can’t give a ‘really firm answer’ on why Americans with natural immunity need vaccines

  •  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top adviser for the COVID-19 pandemic, told CNN on Thursday [9/9/21] that he doesn’t have “a really firm answer” on the accuracy of a study that found natural immunity provides better protection against the virus than vaccines alone.
  • During an interview on “Anderson Cooper 360,” CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta asked Fauci about a study done in Israel that found natural immunity from previous COVID-19 infection conferred longer-lasting protection against the Delta variant of coronavirus than two shots of the Pfizer vaccine.
  • “So, as we talk about vaccine mandates, I get calls all the time, people say, I’ve already had COVID, I’m protected. And now the study says maybe even more protected than the vaccine alone. Should they also get the vaccine? How do you make the case to them?” Gupta asked.”You know, that’s a really good point, Sanjay. I don’t have a really firm answer for you on that,” Fauci replied.
  • “That’s something that we’re going to have to discuss regarding the durability of the response,” he continued. [LYING!] “The one thing that paper from Israel didn’t tell you is whether or not — as high as the protection is with natural infection — what’s the durability compared to the durability of a vaccine?”
  • Fauci explained that it is possible that natural immunity from previous COVID-19 infection only provides temporary protection from viral infection.
  • “So, I think that is something that we need to sit down and discuss seriously, because you very appropriately pointed out, it is an issue, and there could be an argument for saying what you said,” Fauci said.
  • This answer is misleading. The Israeli researchers specifically addressed the durability of natural immunity compared to vaccine immunity, writing that their study demonstrated “natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant” than does the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.
  • Previously, Fauci expressed great confidence that the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna provide greater immune protection against all variants of COVID-19 than does natural immunity.

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