By Zachary Stieber | The Epoch Times
The federal health agency was asked during the fall by a lawyer on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network for documents “reflecting any documented case of an individual who: (1) never received a COVID-19 vaccine; (2) was infected with COVID-19 once, recovered, and then later became infected again; and (3) transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to another person when re-infected.”
SARS-CoV-2 is another name for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.
Persons who recover from COVID-19 are also known as naturally immune.
In a response dated Nov. 5 and made public this week, the CDC said it does not have any documents pertaining to the request.
The CDC confirmed to The Epoch Times that its Emergency Operations Centre did not find any records responsive to the request.
The agency declined to say whether any documentation had been found between Nov. 5 and Nov. 12, directing The Epoch Times to file a Freedom of Information Act Request for that information, which it did.
“You would assume that if the CDC was going to crush the civil and individual rights of those with natural immunity by having them expelled from school, fired from their jobs, separated from the military, and worse, the CDC would have proof of at least one instance of an unvaccinated, naturally immune individual transmitting the COVID-19 virus to another individual. If you thought this, you would be wrong,” Aaron Siri, a lawyer who sought the records on behalf of the network, said in a blog post.
The CDC’s disclosure drew responses from several medical experts, including Johns Hopkins Dr. Marty Makary, who said it underlined how little data the agency has released concerning the recovered.
Makary called on the CDC to make public data on any re-infections that have resulted in hospitalization or death, with information on the patient’s comorbidities or lack thereof.
“CDC should be transparent with data on natural immunity. Instead we get glimpses from FOIA requests like this one,” he wrote on Twitter.
The CDC sets few firm rules but its guidance has proven enormously influential during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtually all officials imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates have left out the option for people to refuse the jab if they can prove they had COVID-19 and recovered, with many citing the CDC.
Officials across the country have urged people to get vaccinated by claiming it will protect those around them.
“Getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others around you, especially as the more contagious Delta variant spreads around the country,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said in a statement over the summer, but soon after she said vaccines could “no longer prevent transmission” during a television appearance.
Over 100 studies provide support for natural immunity bringing strong and similar or superior protection compared to vaccines, including a real-world Israeli study. But agency officials have promoted two of their own studies in arguing even those who have natural immunity should get vaccinated, asserting natural immunity has not proven as durable as vaccination.
Experts are divided on the matter. Some align with the CDC; others say those with natural immunity should or should consider getting a single shot of a vaccine; still others recommend most or all with natural immunity not get a jab.
The CDC did say in a brief released earlier this month that natural immunity and vaccines offer protection for at least six months. It said nothing about transmission in its brief.