Over the last number of weeks throughout California and United States, more employers and States have begun introducing vaccine mandates. President Biden has also sought to introduce a vaccine mandate for over 80 million US workers in private companies and federal workers, requiring to get the vaccine or face termination. California currently has mandates in place for State and healthcare workers; with many Police, Sheriff and Fire departments introducing their own mandates.
Typically, these mandates only account for two groups of people; those vaccinated against Covid-19 by one of the various vaccines available, and a second group, those who are unvaccinated against Covid-19. The mandates usually require the employee to get a vaccine or face a wide range of possible negative repercussions, which have included termination. Or in the case of President Biden’s recent announcement, the possibility of testing for Covid-19 once a week. These mandates often have two exceptions; first, a documented medical reason, and second, a “sincerely held religious belief.” Those who qualify for an exception are often still required to undergo regular testing for Covid-19.
Natural Immunity
The mandates, however, have failed to include and account for a third group of people: those who have previously been infected with Covid-19 and have natural immunity against the virus.
A new study conducted in Israel, the largest real-world observational study, compared breakthrough infections by the Delta variant between those who had been previously infected and those who had vaccine induced immunity. The study recognized that while the vaccines have been trialed successfully, the long-term immunity and efficacy against new variants was still unknown. Nevertheless, the study concluded that natural immunity confers “longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant.” In fact, vaccinated people had a 13.06-fold increase risk for breakthrough infection with Delta variant compared to those who were previous infected.
Impact on Negotiations
This study and others make it clear that employers are overlooking a key group of people when they implement these mandates. Employees who have been previously infected may have stronger immunity than those who have been vaccinated, and therefore shouldn’t be treated any differently than those who are vaccinated. Neither should they be required to get the vaccine as they already have longer lasting, and stronger immunity against Covid-19.
As more studies like this one in Israel are conducted and the evidence becomes clearer and more convincing, associations and those negotiating with employers over these mandates have a clear footing to argue that employers should include this third group of people in their mandates. Failure to do so is to overlook a key scientific component.
