Adams Administration Won’t Recognize Natural Immunity, or Prove Why — Continuing de Blasio Policy

Natural immunity still won’t be recognized in lieu of mandated COVID-19 vaccines in New York City under Mayor Eric Adams — despite recent CDC data indicating natural immunity’s effectiveness in preventing infection — and Adams’ administration has not provided data supporting this refusal.

Although Adams said two weeks ago that his public health agency was taking “a look at” the issue, his administration has thus far continued the approach of his predecessor, Bill de Blasio: not allowing natural immunity to satisfy the vaccine requirement, while also rebuffing media requests for data justifying this policy.

People who have survived a COVID infection (and therefore obtained “natural immunity”) have been shown to be at least as protected against subsequent infection as those who received vaccines, according to several studies covering the period of 2021 when the Delta variant was dominant.

A study published last month by the CDC, based on data from California and New York, showed that people who survived a previous infection and were not vaccinated had far lower rates of COVID than did people who were vaccinated but had no prior infection. Natural immunity also gave better protection against hospitalization than did the vaccine. An Israeli study published in August also showed natural immunity offering far superior protection against the Delta variant than vaccine-induced immunity. And a U.K. study last fall showed natural immunity offering protection equivalent to that of vaccines. (The above-mentioned results relate to the Delta-dominant period. According to the CDC study, vaccine immunity was superior to natural immunity prior to Delta.)

New York City has mandated vaccinations for all public and private employees, a policy enacted by de Blasio and continued under Adams. (A separate vaccine mandate for customers at indoor venues like restaurants and concert halls is set to expire March 7, if COVID numbers remain low after the recent Omicron-strain spike.)

At a press conference Feb. 16, a Hamodia reporter, citing the CDC study, asked Adams, “Why is the city still not recognizing natural immunity in lieu of vaccines?”

Adams responded that he had indeed seen the study, but that a health official in his administration had cautioned him against recognizing natural immunity.

“Someone sent me a report,” the mayor said. “I looked through it. And based on what I read, there was something interesting here. And I sent it over to my Deputy Mayor of Health and Mental Hygiene. I said, ‘Listen, can we take a look at this? Is this true?’ What he came back with is that the vaccines allow a longer period of strengthening your immune system than the natural immunity. That’s what he came back with. But I told him I need him to study this, I need him to find out if this is a viable option. And if it is a viable option, we need to revisit it.”

(There is no position of Deputy Mayor of Health and Mental Hygiene. Adams was apparently referring either to the outgoing Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Dave Chokshi, or the incoming one, Dr. Ashwin Vasan.)

The reporter then asked, “Even if that were true [that vaccine-induced immunity lasts longer than does natural immunity] why wouldn’t they accept natural immunity for the period that they believe it does last?”

Adams responded, “Listen he’s going to come back with the information. I’m going to follow the science and I believe let’s deal with the facts, and if the facts state that then we need to have that conversation … He’s looking at it, and I’ll hunt you down and give you the results and what he says.”

In the CDC study covering the Delta period, the median interval from vaccination to positive test was 138 days, whereas the median interval from previous COVID diagnosis to a positive test was 262 days, indicating that natural immunity is in fact longer-lasting than vaccine immunity.

When Hamodia followed up with Adams administration spokespersons and requested the evidence for the administration’s assertion that natural immunity is shorter-lasting than vaccine-induced immunity, the press team took a week to provide a response to the query.

Health Department spokesman Michael Lanza responded with a statement about how obtaining a vaccine after a prior infection offered even more protection than did the prior infection alone.

“The data is clear: Vaccination after COVID-19 infection reduces the risk of reinfection and increases durability of the immune response,” Lanza said. “Relying on natural immunity from infection alone carries a higher risk of reinfection and more severe COVID-19 outcomes. Vaccination continues to remain the safest way to gain protection against the virus.”

Lanza did not respond to a Hamodia request for comment on a direct comparison between those who have natural immunity only vs. those who have a vaccine only.

An administration spokesperson also told Hamodia that evidence of prior infection is not enough because there is no agreed upon test to indicate that a person has sufficient immunity from prior infection — but the spokesperson made no attempt to explain away the CDC-published data which purported to show the effectiveness of natural immunity, and which was based partially on New York state data.

The Adams administration appears to be following the policy of previous mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which did not grant recognition to natural immunity, or provide data backing up this approach.

Health Commissioner Chokshi refused multiple requests by Hamodia and other reporters over the past year to release city data on reinfections, which would indicate the relative strength of natural immunity.

When asked about the efficacy of natural immunity, Chokshi has said that the data he’s seen shows vaccines to be superior, but has not provided the evidence for this assertion; and he has reiterated that getting vaccinated after a prior infection boosts immunity further. But he has repeatedly rebuffed requests to release city data comparing those who were infected after a prior infection with those infected after obtaining a vaccine, and when pressed on his refusals, he told a Hamodia reporter in September that the city would only release data that is “connected to a public health purpose.”

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rborchardt@hamodia.com