The Biden Administration’s Critical COVID-19 Vaccine Blunder And One Republican Senator’s Courageous Stand: On Medical Necessity of COVID-19 Vaccination.
FACT: Millions of Americans are already naturally immune to SARS-CoV-2 — because millions of Americans have already been infected with the virus.
FACT: The Biden administration, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Collins, Dr. Marks, Dr. Walensky, and Dr. Woodcock are all aware that the vast majority of naturally immune Americans are protected from re-infection. They’ve known this for months now.
FACT: The Biden administration’s public health officials are fully aware that protection from natural immunity is at least as good, if not more robust than, vaccine immunity.
This means that, in the vast majority of the millions of our country-men and -women, who are already naturally immune to COVID-19, vaccination is either unnecessary or is only marginally beneficial.
But despite knowing these facts, it is simply shocking to witness the Biden administration officials willfully deceiving the American people — instead choosing to allow corporations and educational institutions to coerce unsuspecting and trusting Americans using vaccine mandates and requirements, at risk to their civil liberties and educational opportunities.
I do not use the word “coerce” to refer to the Biden administration’s behavior allowing and promoting mandated vaccination of the already immune, lightly.
Every self-respecting physicians and public health expert, many of them my own colleagues and friends, know that when we physicians do anything medically unnecessary or marginally beneficial to patients, we are violating a cardinal principle of medical ethics: Beneficence.
Vaccines are no exception!
What’s worse, when we force medically unnecessary or marginally beneficial practices on people, or any treatment for that matter, we are violating another cardinal principle of medical ethics: Patient Autonomy.
Vaccines are no exception!
Every doctor knows that when we violate medical ethics and offer patients an unnecessary or marginally beneficial treatment, we have opened the door ONLY to totally avoidable HARM.
What’s more, everyday Americans understand this too. I’ve come across hundreds of fellow citizens at this point in time, who ask a simple and rational question: If I’ve already had COVID-19, why do I need to get vaccinated too?
What’s makes the Biden administration’s behavior 100% unAmerican is that Drs. Fauci (NIH/NIAID) and Collins (NIH), and very likely Marks (FDA), Walensky (CDC), and Woodcock (FDA), all know that millions of naturally infected Americans stand to gain almost no benefit from the COVID-19 vaccines.
Let me be clear, as a physician and immunologist trained at the highest levels of our academic medical establishment in the United States: By allowing the mandated, “one-size-fits-all” vaccination of the millions of Americans who are already naturally immune to COVID-19, the Biden administration is: 1) ignoring clear immunological facts about the susceptibility of already infected persons to re-infection — and specifically in the case of COVID-19, 2) allowing breach of a medical standard of care in the case of persons with demonstrable serological immunity and 3) permitting medical ethical principles to be floridly violated. All of this in a setting where a potent new vaccine with a range of new complications (e.g., blood clots) is being deployed on a population level, en masse and FASTER than anything we have ever done in the history of American medicine.
This is a catastrophic error in federal governance coming straight from the Oval office.
Amidst this travesty, one man, and I mean ONE man, has risen with courage and integrity from the United States Senate.
The senior senator from the state of Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson, is very literally the only federal official with the clarity of purpose and focused attention necessary to protect Americans in harm’s way from the Biden administrations irrational, unscientific and unethical public health behavior.
Recently, the senator wrote an OpEd in the Washington Examiner explaining his rationale for choosing not to get vaccinated.
Senator Johnson also appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight show to explain why he is choosing to forgo his vaccination at this time.
You see, like millions of fellow Americans, Mr. Johnson was infected with COVID-19 a few months ago. Thankfully, he was asymptomatic, or only had a very mild case of COVID-19 disease. And like millions of Americans he wondered why he should get a COVID-19 vaccine when he’s recently had an infection.
The senator recently disclosed to Americans that he underwent serological testing on his blood and, as expected from his recent infection, was found to have a significant quantity of protective antibodies against the virus in his blood.
So instead of buying into the mindless herd mentality and coercion being promoted by the Biden administration and many of his colleagues in congress, he decided to follow science and medical ethical principles — he’s decided to forego vaccination at this time because, based on his serological status, he is reasonably certain that he is already immune.
Of course, a few of the senator’s activist critics at the Washington Post are out to assassinate his character. Mr. Sal Rizzo of The Post wrote a contorted and teleological piece of journalistic garbage, under the guise of a “fact check” and published it in The Post a few days ago. The fact is that Rizzo and his bosses at The Post, are truly missing a MASSIVE blunder on the part of the Biden Administration’s public health officials — and on the part of the president himself. A blunder that will almost certainly harm and kill, at least a minority subset of unsuspecting and trusting Americans.
For the record, in my capacity as a physician and immunologist who undeniably believes in the power and critical importance of vaccines, I’ve spoken to the senator about his stance on the COVID-19 vaccines. He was a big supporter of the trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed and cheered the vaccine’s marvelously fast development. So, I am 100% sure that the allegations that Mr. Johnson is “anti-vaccine” or “anti-science” are purely defamatory and intentional attempts at political assassination — by a few terrible political hack jobs at places like The Post, out to make a name for themselves by taking down a United States senator. Good luck!
Some people have said to me, that Senator Johnson may be putting himself at risk of harm from a possible re-infection — and that I should encourage him to get the vaccine given that he considers me a friend (and vice versa). Because we do not know what exact level of blood antibodies is protective.
Of course, this latter point is true, we do NOT know how much antibody is protective or if the exact antibody levels even matter that much.
But, what senator Johnson (and the ENTIRETY of the Biden administration’s public health team, btw) does know is that the vast majority of previously COVID-19 infected people are NOT susceptible to reinfection. AND that previously infected persons are at least equally protected from infection as vaccinated persons — a recent Israeli study made this point abundantly clear.
Is it possible that senator Johnson could get re-infected with SARS-CoV-2? Yes.
Is it likely? NO!
Is it possible that a vaccinated person could get infected with SARS-CoV-2? Yes, in fact about 6000 Americans we know of have already.
Is it likely? NO!
Is it more likely that an unvaccinated senator Johnson would be more susceptible to re-infection than a vaccinated senator Johnson? The data suggests that this is UNLIKELY!
My own opinion, based on standard of care as it pertains to every other transient viral infection we deal with in medicine, is that the mere presence of IgG antibodies demonstrates immunity. I doubt that the exact level of antibodies makes a huge difference. Though I admit there’s still a lot we need to learn about SARS-CoV-2 immunity. That said, I have interacted and treated COVID-19 recovered patients who, almost a year after their infection, have large quantities of IgG antibody against SARS-CoV-2 in their blood.
For the record, I never discourage ANY American from getting vaccinated. As for the COVID-19 vaccine I’ve been vaccinated, my teenage daughter has been vaccinated and my own parents have been vaccinated. But my son and my sister, both of whom were infected and have significant quantities of protective antibodies in the blood, will NOT be getting vaccinated in the near future.
Also for the public record, I did not discourage senator Johnson from getting the COVID-19 vaccine— it’s his personal decision to forego vaccination at this time, based on the status of his immunity, as it should be every American’s. AND, I alway encourage all fellow citizens, who approach me for advice, who have not been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and are NOT immune, to get vaccinated ASAP.
Going back to senator Johnson, what it comes down to is that this lone GOP senator from Wisconsin, is adhering courageously to rational science, to the sound principles of medical ethics and to the foundational American principles of respecting and protecting EVERY individual American life.
Johnson is an American profile in courage all of us should emulate.
I know, and hope, that a few others in his caucus might join him soon in defense of science, medical ethics and the American principles guiding good federal governance.
It would be so much easier for senator Johnson to just get vaccinated sheepishly, as some of his colleagues have pushed and encouraged him to do — certainly that would get a few despicable critics in the press off his back.
But I think this senator has locked in on to a corrosive cancer eating away at America from within in this vaccine debacle— and there’s no chance in hell Johnson will let it go sitting down.
I also know that almost every reasonable every day American understands Johnson’s point: Why should I get vaccinated, if I’ve already been infected and have antibody immunity?
It’s a cryin’ shame that the democrats are relinquishing their duty to protecting EVERY SINGLE American life. It’s a travesty that a clearcut medical issue the Biden administration can deal with rationally, decently and in a bipartisan issue needs to become a political one.
It’s shocking to know that the president is permitting coercive “stick-and-carrot” words and actions in the vernacular of his administration and its spokespersons on news channels like CNN and MSNBC. Simply Shocking!
The main question I leave you, the reader, with is this: why is it that a lone Republican senator is the only one with the integrity and courage in our federal government to rise in defense of rational science, medical ethics and a few foundational American principles? Why has Mr. Biden and the entire democrat establishment lost their way so badly, as our adversaries around the world take our loss and division to the bank every day?!?
My bet is on Ron Johnson — despite all the despicable political assassins and clueless colleagues, who are roaming around him. But even more importantly, my bet is on the rationality and decency of every day Americans.
In defense of US public health,
Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD
noorchashm@gmail.com.
