On May 13, 2021, the CDC revised its recommendations for fully vaccinated people, lessening certain restrictions and allowing more freedoms for those who have been vaccinated. This same guidance, however, made no mention of those who have already had COVID-19.
This prompted ICAN, through its attorneys, to send a letter on May 28, 2021 to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accompanied by a declaration from Dr. Peter McCullough. This letter explained that there is no compelling or rational reason to treat individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 differently than those that have been vaccinated with regard to COVID-19 related restrictions and freedoms. This is because there is no evidence that an individual previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 is at risk of becoming re-infected and transmitting it to others.
ICAN detailed the numerous studies which show that recovered individuals are protected because the human body knows how to develop immunity to newly emerging viruses. These recovered individuals show that they have indeed developed sustained neutralizing antibodies which protect from reinfection and robust T-cell memory to the virus. Another study concluded that, “95% of the [previously infected and recovered] people had at least 3 out of 5 immune-system components that could recognize SARS-CoV-2 up to 8 months after infection.” One of the most the most recent studies finds that “SARS-CoV-2 infection induces a robust antigen-specific, long-lived humoral immune response in humans.”
While the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines is considered to be between 72 to 95 percent, the efficacy rate of creating immunity after COVID-19 is considered to be almost 100 percent. Since the immunity offered by having had COVID-19 is more efficacious and more robust than from the vaccine, ICAN explained to the CDC that its recommendations of loosening restrictions for those that have been vaccinated for COVID-19, but not for those that have had COVID-19, is unscientific and illegal.
If it is safe for a fully vaccinated individual to have more freedoms and less restrictions, the same must be true for individuals who have recovered! ICAN demanded that the CDC immediately include those who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 in the same category as those fully vaccinated with regard to the agency’s COVID-19 related guidance. ICAN will provide any response that is received and will continue to demand that public health authorities’ acts are justified by science and the truth.
