Inside the Secret Government Meeting on COVID-19 Natural Immunity

Conservative News DailyFebruary 2, 2023

Four of the highest ranking U.S. health officials—including Dr. Anthony Fauci—met in secret to discuss whether or not naturally immune people should be exempt from getting COVID-19 vaccines, The Epoch Times can reveal.

The officials brought in four outside experts to discuss whether the protection gained after recovering from COVID-19—known as Natural immunity—should count as one or more vaccine doses.

“There was interest in several people in the administration in hearing basically the opinions of four immunologists in terms of what we thought about … natural infection as contributing to protection against moderate to severe disease, and to what extent that should influence dosing,” The Epoch Times was told by Dr. Paul Offit.

Offit and another expert believed that natural immunity requires fewer doses. The other two experts argued natural immunity shouldn’t count as anything.

The U.S. vaccine policy has never accepted post-infection immunity, so the discussions did not result in any change. Fauci and other U.S. officials have repeatedly dismissed this protection, claiming it is inferior to vaccine-bestowed immune system. Many studies on this subject support the opposite.

The October 2021 meeting was briefly discussed on a podcast. The Epoch Times independently confirmed that the meeting took place and identified all the participants. They also revealed key details.

Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford University, a professor in medicine, was absent and criticised the closed-door discussion that resulted in such a significant discussion with very few people.

“It was a really impactful decision that they made in private with a very small number of people involved. And they reached the wrong decision,” Bhattacharya stated this to The Epoch Times.

The Participants

From the government

Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden until the end of 2022
Dr. Vivek Mughy, the U.S. general surgeon
Dr. Rochelle WalenskyThe head of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr.
Dr. Francis Collins, head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which includes the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, until December 2021
Dr. Bechara Choucair, the White House vaccine coordinator until November 2021

From outside the government

Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adviser to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on vaccines
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and a former member of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board
Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University
Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the Baylor College of Medicine’s School of Tropical Medicine

According to emails obtained by The Epoch Times, Fauci and Murthy agreed to meet.

“Would you be available tonight from 9-9:30 for a call with a few other scientific colleagues on infection-induced immunity? Tony and I just discussed and were hoping to do this sooner rather than later if possible,” Murthy wrote one missive for Fauci, Walensky and Collins.

They all agreed that they could do it.

Walensky asked, “Who would be there?”

Murthy listed participants. “I think you know all of them right?” He stated.

Walensky claimed she knew only one person. “Sounds like a good crew,” She continued.

‘Clear Benefit’

Offit made a presentation during the meeting His position—that natural immunity should count as two doses.

At the time, the CDC recommended three shots—a two-dose primary series and a booster—for many Americans 18 and older, soon expanding that advice to all adults, even though trials of the boosters only analyzed immunogenicity and efficacy among those without evidence of prior infection.

Natural immunity is supported by research Was durable And Superior to vaccination. The CDC, on the other hand published A paper Its a href=”https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22087997-cdc-mmwr-explanation”>quasi-journal They concluded that vaccination was superior.

Osterholm agreed with Offit but felt that having recovered from COVID-19 should not be counted as one dose.

“I added my voice at the meeting to count an infection as equivalent to a dose of vaccine! I’ve always believed hybrid immunity likely provides the most protection,” Osterholm contacted The Epoch Times via email.

Hybrid immunity refers when you receive a vaccine after you have recovered from COVID-19.

Some papers Have Found After recovery, vaccination boosts antibodies which are thought to be a predictor of protection. Additional research Has Shown that the naturally immune have a higher risk of side effects than those who haven’t recovered from infection. While some experts think the risk is worth it, others disagree.

Hotez and Iwasaki, meanwhile, made the case that natural immunity should not count as any dose—as has been the case in virtually the entire United States since the COVID-19 vaccines were first rolled out.

Iwasaki refers to a British study on preprints, shortly afterwards Published in NatureBased on survey data, she concluded that people with prior infections were more likely to be protected from AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines. She also pointed out An investigation Her research showed that naturally-immune individuals had higher antibody levels than those who were vaccinated. But, that was not the case. “reached comparable levels of neutralization responses to the ancestral strain after the second vaccine dose.” The researchers also discovered T cells—thought to protect against severe illness—were boosted by vaccination.

There’s a “clear benefit” Iwasaki stated that boosting regardless of previous infection is possible. He received over $2 million in grants since then from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in an email obtained to The Epoch Times. Hotez has been awarded grants totaling millions of dollars in the past years, including $789,000 from the NIH in fiscal 2020. From 1985 to 2004, Offit, the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine was awarded $3.5 million in NIH grants.

Hotez declined interviews through a spokesperson. Iwasaki didn’t respond to requests for comment.

No participants represented experts like Bhattacharya who say that the naturally immune generally don’t need any doses at all.

Public Statements

Hotez repeatedly compared natural immunity to vaccination in public. He also cited the widely criticized CDC paper that was based on two months of testing in one state.

On Twitter, he made one tweet referring to Another CDC studyAccording to the study, naturally-immune people were five times more likely to test positive than vaccinated individuals with no prior infections. “Still more evidence, this time from @CDCMMWR showing that vaccine-induced immunity is way better than infection and recovery, what some call weirdly ‘natural immunity’. The antivaccine and far right groups go ballistic, but it’s the reality.”

The CDC also issued a statement that day. “science brief” that detailed the agency’s position on natural immunity versus the protection from vaccines. The brief states that there is ample evidence to support both natural immunity and vaccination. “have a low risk of subsequent infection for at least 6 months” But that’s not all “the body of evidence for infection-induced immunity is more limited than that for vaccine-induced immunity.”

Evidence suggests that vaccinations after infection or hybrid immunity are effective. “significantly enhances protection and further reduces risk of reinfection” and is the foundation of the CDC’s recommendations, the agency said.

Several months later the CDC a href=”https://www.theepochtimes.com/natural-immunity-superior-to-vaccination-against-delta-virus-variant-study_4223936.html”>acknowledged Natural immunity was superior to vaccination against Delta variant. Omicron replaced it in late 2021. The CDC has Misleading representations Before on the evidence supporting vaccination for the naturally immune, the agency didn’t respond to a comment request regarding whether they will ever update their brief.

Iwasaki had initially been open to curbing the number of doses for the naturally immune—”I think this supports the idea of just giving one dose to people who had covid19,” she said in response to one Twitter post in early 2021, which is restricted from view—but later came to argue that each person who is infected has a different immune response, and that the natural immunity, even if strong initially, wanes over time.

Osterholm knocked down people who claimed natural immunity is weak or nonexistent, but also claimed vaccine-beamed immunity is better. Osterholm changed his stance at the meeting a few months later. He stated in February 2022, “Vaccine-bestowed immunity is better.” “we’ve got to make three doses the actual standard” Also, “trying to understand what kind of immunity we get from a previous infection.”

Offit has been the leading critic on the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which advises U.S. regulators on vaccines, over their authorizations of COVID-19 boosters. Offit has said boosters are unnecessary for the young and healthy because they don’t add much to the primary series. He also criticized regulators for authorizing Up-to-date photos Without consulting the committee Incomplete data. The booster push led to the resignation of two of the most senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official (FDA). Invitations to the secret meeting about natural immunity were not sent to any FDA officials.

Fauci and Walensky play Natural Immunity

Fauci, Walensky, and Walensky have been the most prominent U.S. health officials during this pandemic.

Fauci said in an email dated March 2020 that Fauci assumed there would be “substantial immunity post infection,” He would later affirm that natural immunity was real, but the durability of it was not certain. He also noted the higher antibody levels in hybrid immunity studies.

In September 2021, months following the claim that vaccined people had been vaccinated “can feel safe that they are not going to get infected,” Fauci stated that he did have “a really firm answer” On whether people who are naturally immune should be vaccinated.

“It is conceivable that you got infected, you’re protected—but you may not be protected for an indefinite period of time,” Fauci stated on CNN that he was pressed about the issue. “So I think that is something that we need to sit down and discuss seriously.”

Fauci stated that both natural immunity and vaccine-bestowed immune system are waning and that everyone should be vaccinated, regardless of previous infection.

Before she was appointed CDC director Walensky signed a document called The John Snow Memorandum In response to Great Barrington DeclarationBhattacharya was the co-author of this document. It called for the protection of the elderly and infirm with a focus on, “The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk.”

In contrast, the memorandum stated that there was “no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection” Supported the strict lockdown measures in place in the United States and other countries.

After becoming director in March 2021 Walensky died. Publicized recommendations The natural immune system is vaccinated. “substantial durability” Protection six months after infection. “rare cases of reinfection” Reports have been made.

Walensky hyped Walensky’s August 2021 CDC study of natural immunity and the second in October 2021. However, when did the CDC study on natural immunity begin? Third paper She concluded that natural immunity was superior and did not make a statement. Walensky later A blog The study concluded that natural immunity provides strong protection. “perhaps even more so than those who had been vaccinated and not yet boosted.”

She said that it was before Omicron. “it’s not entirely clear how that protection works in the context of Omicron and boosting.”

Collins, Murthy and Walensky did not respond to interviews requests. Fauci, who was forced to resign in 2022, could no longer be reached.

Collins and Murthy also saw natural immunity as inferior. “From the studies about natural immunity, we are seeing more and more data that tells us that while you get some protection from natural infection, it’s not nearly as strong as what you get from the vaccine,” Murthy spoke on CNN two months prior to the meeting. Collins highlighted in a series blog posts the studies that showed higher levels of antibody after vaccination and encouraged people to get vaccinated. He also supported vaccine mandates.

Vaccine Guidance Not Altered

Other countries also offered natural immune benefits.

Israel announced that those who can prove prior infection with serological evidence could be admitted to the United States just days after hearing from the experts. “green pass,” It was required by the country in order to enter certain venues. This was valid for six months. A few European Union countries stated that the digital certificate allows for free movement within the bloc and only one dose of the naturally immune. The United Kingdom’s travel pass was available to people who tested positive for COVID-19 if the test was within the previous 180 days.

However, the U.S. vaccination policy, which is the basis of mandates in different sectors like education and healthcare, was not affected by the meeting.

“I think it’s because the opinions were sort of generally diverse, so there wasn’t a clear, unified message that came out of that,” Offit told The Epoch Times, adding via email that there was “generally a divide among participants about how to think about this,” With “no firm conclusions.”

Bhattacharya stated that the discussion was too late and that it was clear that natural immunity protects against severe disease as well as reinfection.

“The fact that the head of the CDC and the surgeon general both seem to have ignored these basic scientific facts is a scandal,” He stated. “And it resulted in countless Americans losing their jobs for nothing.”

The CDC said that COVID-19-infected people could wait for up to three weeks before they were vaccinated. “is less likely in the weeks to months after infection” And that’s all there is to it “might result in an improved immune response to vaccination.”

Over time, other U.S. policies began to recognize natural immunity. Walensky in April 2022 (PDF(For instance, Order the end Title 42, a public policy in health that was called Title 42. She said she did so because the Omicron period saw fewer deaths and more hospitalizations. “due, in part, to widespread population immunity.”

It is accompanied by a footnote. “In addition to vaccine-induced immunity, studies have consistently shown that infection with SARS-CoV-2 lowers an individual’s risk of subsequent infection and an even lower risk of hospitalization and death.” SARS-CoV-2 results in COVID-19

In August 2022 the CDC COVID-19 guidelines have been relaxedIn part, it states that “persons who have had COVID-19 but are not vaccinated have some degree of protection against severe illness from their previous infection.”

On Jan. 26, FDA became effective Convened Offit and the other advisers on the vaccine advisory committee to consider various vaccine-related issues. These are some of them. Whether the naturally immune should be advised to only get one shot, even if they’ve never been vaccinated before.

Lia Onely contributed to the report.