Natural COVID Immunity More Powerful Than Vaccination, Contradicting 'Experts' Yet Again

Natural immunity, after being widely acknowledged as part of immune response to respiratory viruses, became a right-wing conspiracy theory during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Experts" that previously touted natural immunity, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, suddenly were horrified at the suggestion that previous COVID infection could prove effective at preventing further infection or serious outcomes.

But as we witnessed all too often with the "expert" pronouncements on masks, school closures, lockdowns and the lab leak, they’re more than happy to mislead the public about evidence if they deem that it contradicts their preferred policies. However, now there’s another set of data confirming that yet again the "experts" were wrong about the importance of natural immunity.

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 25:  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives at an event commemorating the 50 millionth COVID-19 vaccine shot on February 25, 2021 at the South Court Auditorium of Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images)

New Study Shows How Natural Immunity Saved Lives, Prevented Infections

A massive new study was just released on the comparison of vaccine effectiveness with natural immunity in Austria, using observational data from the entire country’s health registry. The idea behind the study design was to test how important previous COVID infection actually was in reducing negative outcomes, particularly deaths.

Spoiler alert: it was very, very effective.

"In this nationwide study in Austria, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the first and second vaccine dose against SARS-CoV-2 in previously infected adults regarding COVID-19 deaths (primary outcome) and SARS-CoV-2 positive test results (secondary outcome) thus comparing hybrid versus natural immunity. In addition, we calculate risk differences in non-COVID-19 mortality in individuals with versus without a first or second vaccine dose, to determine whether the underlying health status of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals is comparable or if a healthy vaccinee bias is present. The observation period for this investigation was from October 1st until December 31st, 2021, coinciding with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta wave, which marked the largest number of COVID-19 deaths after the introduction of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in Austria."

"Experts" have continuously claimed that getting vaccinated is key to preventing infection and severe COVID cases. Fauci said it, the CDC has said it, and politicians have mindlessly repeated it. But as we’ve seen demonstrated time and time again, it’s simply not true. And considering the unbelievably low mortality rate from COVID, their mRNA extremism is also unjustifiable.

The researchers looked at nearly 500,000 adults with a previously documented SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2021, with significant percentages distributed between vaccinated, one dose, and unvaccinated. And the absolute risk of COVID-associated death was almost nonexistent.

"Among 494,646 previously infected adults, 169,543 had received two vaccine doses, 133,567 had received one dose and 190,275 were unvaccinated at baseline. We recorded 17 COVID-19 deaths (6 vaccinated, 11 unvaccinated) and 8,209 SARS-CoV-2 infections. Absolute risk of COVID-19 deaths was 0.003%. rVE estimates for COVID-19 deaths and reinfections exceeded 75% until end-2021 but decreased substantially with extended follow-up."

That would be a 0.003% absolute risk of COVID-associated mortality. For that, we shut down the planet, forced babies into masks, and engaged in vaccine-related discrimination for years. And as the authors explain, the extremely low mortality rate indicates that previous infection was mostly responsible for protecting residents.

"First and second SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses appear effective in the short-term, but with diminishing effectiveness over time. The extremely low COVID-19 mortality, regardless of vaccination, indicates strong protection of previous infection against COVID-19 death. Lower non-COVID-19 mortality in the vaccinated population might suggest a healthy vaccinee bias."

Essentially, healthier people got vaccinated, which resulted in a lower overall mortality rate in that demographic. And it artificially inflated the appearance of vaccine effectiveness. But the lack of significant difference in mortality rates between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups indicates that the primary driver of protection was natural immunity. Another blow for Fauci.

Even among those who did unfortunately die with a recorded COVID infection, the vast majority were among those aged 75 and up. Exactly the demographic that you’d expect considering the dramatic risk gradient by age.

"From October 1 to December 31, 2021, we recorded 17 COVID-19 deaths among the previously infected, of which 11 occurred in the unvaccinated group and 6 in the group with two vaccine doses. This corresponds to a case fatality rate of 0.21% among 8,209 recorded infections, and an absolute risk of COVID-19 death of 0.003% within the study population of 494,646 individuals. In the group with one vaccine dose, no COVID-19 death was recorded. COVID-19 deaths after reinfection mainly occurred in the age group ≥75 years"

And in case there was any remaining doubt, the mortality rate among those without a previous COVID case was significantly higher. Still low, but much, much higher.

"During the same time frame 2,892 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the remainder adult population of Austria with no documented prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (estimated to be 6,758,312 people, by using national population statistics provided by Statistics Austria in combination with EMS data). The absolute risk of COVID-19 deaths was therefore 0.043% compared to 0.003% in our population with previously documented infection."

Again, the mortality risk was unbelievably small regardless, but the increase from 0.003% to 0.043% is 1333%. Natural immunity is and was unbelievably powerful. And the difference in overall mortality among the different vaccination groups was almost certainly due to the overall better health of vaccinated people.

"Non-COVID-19 mortality was lower in vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals suggesting healthy vaccinee bias. This suggests that the vaccinated in our study may have been fundamentally different from the unvaccinated and likely had better underlying health. This would have tended to bias our results in the direction of overestimating vaccine effectiveness and highlights the potential challenges of using retrospective observational data to draw causal conclusions about interventions."

So to summarize, the risk of COVID mortality was unbelievably small, even in the Delta variant wave, any level of observed vaccine effectiveness waned rapidly over time, there was a healthy vaccinee bias artificially influencing that effectiveness, and natural immunity was by far the most protective action an individual could take.

Basically, all of this directly contradicts "expert" consensus, and media and political messaging. They ignored natural immunity, promoted universal vaccination without question, and demonized and labeled anyone who pointed out the importance, the historical importance, of previous infection.

And once again, they were wrong. Who would have guessed?