Pennacchio: Failure to Recognize Natural Immunity Makes Murphy’s Vaccine Mandate More Confounding

Our Early Pandemic Health Care Heroes Have Now Become the Governor’s Scapegoats

Senator Joe Pennacchio today challenged Governor Murphy to reconsider his aggressive vaccine mandate for health care workers in light of new evidence supporting the efficacy of natural immunity in people who have recovered from COVID infection.

“The Governor and his health commissioner are missing a crucial variable in their COVID spread equation,” said Pennacchio. “People who have survived the virus have a natural defense against future infections. It is the body’s way of protecting itself, and with the rampant rate of transmission we’ve seen in the past few weeks, there are many more residents walking around with powerful antibodies.”

This week, Murphy announced a new executive order requiring health workers to be fully vaccinated and have the booster shots against COVID or face firing.

“Once again, we’ve seen an overly dramatic action by the Administration, but the science tells us it is not necessary,” Pennacchio said. “The aggressive policy will inevitably contribute to an already dangerous staffing shortage in many hospitals.

“Mother Nature is already doing more to stop the virus than the Governor’s renewed vaccine push could hope to achieve,” the Senator said, citing the findings of a CDC study in California and New York, along with research from Israel that found natural antibodies in recovered COVID patients to be extremely effective.

The CDC study released Wednesday examined cases and hospitalizations from May through November 2021, concluding that “natural immunity better protects against the Delta strain of COVID-19 than a vaccine,” according to a published report.

“This confirms what we have known all along. Natural immunity is real, it is effective, and it is equal or superior to vaccinations,” said Pennacchio. “There is no need to threaten the jobs of the health care workers who have been the true heroes of the pandemic when nature playing such an impactful role.”

Yesterday the state reported 10,000 new cases. Only two weeks ago, daily cases were exceeding 30,000.

“Consider that most residents who test positive on in-home kits never report their cases, the actual number is obviously much, much higher,” said Pennacchio. “The rapid spread of positive cases that the state experienced during and since the holiday season may actually be helping nudge New Jersey closer to herd immunity.

“In spite of the Governor’s ill-founded edicts, there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel,” Pennacchio said.