There are many political reasons the CDC continues to ignore the scientific evidence on this issue. Here is a sampling of the reasons, which are neither compelling nor grounded in scientific findings:
Public health officials worry that acknowledging natural immunity will lead people to deliberately try to get infected with Covid rather than getting vaccinated. The obvious response to this worry is that the natural immunity question is not about whether people should try to acquire natural immunity by deliberately getting infected; nobody is suggesting this. It is about the level of immunity afforded to those who have already recovered from Covid as compared to immunity from the vaccine.
Public health officials worry that establishing whether a potential vaccine recipient has already had Covid is too inefficient and cumbersome: officials downplay anything that might slow the efficiency of vaccination campaigns or complicate the simplistic “needle in every arm” public messaging. The response to this worry is likewise straightforward. Vaccination centers need not take on the burden of testing prior to vaccination; simply place the burden of proof on the vaccine recipients. Some people with prior infection may still want the vaccine; as long as they are provided accurate information regarding risks and benefits of vaccines in this population, they are free to get vaccinated. For those with natural immunity who consider their individual risks and benefits and decide to decline vaccination, policies can specify that it’s their responsibility to establish prior immunity. Simply provide the option to them of presenting previous positive PCR test results, or obtaining antibody testing or a T-cell test (which remains positive after antibodies inevitably decline). While there are many other problems with vaccine passports, if officials insist upon them, at the very least these should be immunity passports rather than vaccine passports: this model has has already been implemented in several European countries.
