Fauci has no 'Firm Answer' on why Americans with natural immunity need COVID vaccine

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Biden's top doctor on the pandemic, made it clear Thursday evening that he did not have a good answer to the question that many have been asking in response to President Biden’s new vaccine rules that he announced just hours before.

The new rules would require employers with 100 or more employees, federal workers, and health care staff to get vaccinated or possibly lose their jobs. This could apply to as many as 100 million Americans, and it is Biden’s strongest bid yet to mandate vaccines, something he promised last December that he would not do. 

The question to Fauci, asked by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Anderson Cooper 360, was "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?"

The study Gupta was referring to was an Israeli study that found that natural immunity for people who had already been infected by the COVID-19 virus gave better protection against the Delta variant than two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

"You know, that's a really good point, Sanjay. I don't have a really firm answer for you on that," Fauci replied.

At that moment, it became clear that the Biden administration was not "following the science" in demanding that people with natural immunity must still get vaccines in order to be able to work and fly on planes and go to restaurants and stores, and do all of the same things as vaccinated people can do. 

"That's something that we're going to have to discuss regarding the durability of the response," he continued. "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 said that natural immunity from a previous COVID-19 infection might only be temporary. 

"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.

"We're trying to update policy such that people who have recovered have the same privileges and access as people who are vaccinated," Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, clinical professor of preventive medicine and medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, previously told The Epoch Times. 

Perhaps they should have sat down and discussed that before announcing that natural immunity or not, people must get the vaccine to, in some cases, keep their job.