Natural Immunity for the WIN! Israel Study Suggests COVID-19 Vaccine and Mitigation Policies Should Change Now

“…The debate that never should have started is over. Thankfully, one nation in the world recognized natural immunity to COVID-19 in their vaccine program and has the data to force the issue in other countries. All Israelis are required to enroll in one of four national health funds. Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) covers 26% of the population and maintains centralized electronic medical records, which researchers anonymized and analyzed.

Israel used the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine exclusively in their national vaccination program. When it implemented a vaccine passport program, the previously infected were provided with a passport and excluded from the vaccination push. Later, these individuals were allowed to receive one dose of the vaccine if they chose to, but it was not required to maintain their passports.

The preprint study includes over 700,000 Israelis in a matched cohort methodology. It includes MHS members 16 years and older who were vaccinated or had a documented SARS-CoV-2 infection before February 28, 2021. It compared those who were vaccinated and never infected, the recovered, and those who opted to take the single vaccine dose. The rich data set includes vaccination with dates, diagnosed infections, symptom profiles, hospitalizations, and deaths. Researchers evaluated four outcomes: documented RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 disease, COVID-19, COVID-19-related hospitalization, and death.

After adjusting for comorbidities, there was a 13-fold increased risk for a breakthrough infection following vaccination instead of reinfection after recovery. The vaccinated subjects had a 27-fold increased risk for symptomatic COVID-19 than the previously recovered. There were eight hospitalized patients among the vaccinated and one among the recovered cohort. Thankfully, there were no deaths.

When researchers compared the recovered with and without a single vaccine dose, the differences were slight. Out of 14,029 subjects, the unvaccinated experienced 37 positive tests while those with a single dose had 20. Symptomatic disease occurred in 16 patients who received a single dose and 23 of their unvaccinated counterpoints. The increased risk for those without the vaccine is less than one-fold. No one died of COVID-19.

With such a large study population, these findings should have immediate implications for public policy.

Any city, employer, or educational institution requiring individuals to get vaccinated should amend their policy immediately to allow for proof of infection or immunity as acceptable. Any institution with mask mandates that apply only to the unvaccinated must amend them to recognize recovered individuals. Employees, students, and residents should insist…”