Original article (in Serbian) was published on 05/01/2023
Post exposed the cult – New video by Dr. Semir Osmanagic (VIDEO)”. In the accompanying video, Bosnian entrepreneur and pseudo-archaeologist Osmanagic “translates” the text of professor Marty Makary, in which he proves with scientific arguments that the immunity of the unvaccinated, after a mild infection with Covid, is greater than that of the vaccinated.
“So, the unvaccinated are 27 times more protected by their natural immunity than the vaccinated through vaccine immunity. That is, if you have 28 people in line, first the 27 vaccinated will get the disease, and only then the unvaccinated one”, reveals the text by Nulta tacka.
However, the claims from the above quote were incorrectly and manipulatively transferred from the Washington Post.
To begin with, the aforementioned text does not problematize the relationship between vaccinated / unvaccinated and the chances of infection, but whether immunity after a previous Covid is a stronger protection against a possible new Covid infection than vaccination.
The title of the text “Natural immunity to Covid is powerful. It seems that policymakers are afraid to say it” was published on September 15, 2021, in the Washington Post. In this text, doctor and professor Marty Makary presents the thesis that natural immunity after a period of Covid is stronger than that induced by vaccination. He also states that it was not urgent to vaccinate people who have had Covid, and that priority should be given to those who were not previously infected.
A study from Israel
Makary mentions that more than 15 studies have shown the power of immunity acquired after a period of Covid. He cites examples: “A study that included 700,000 citizens of Israel (…) showed that those who had experienced a previous infection were 27 times less likely to get a second symptomatic Covid infection than those who had been vaccinated”.
In his video (in which he often introduces free interpretations, while skipping important segments), Osmanagic translates the mentioned part as follows: “An Israeli study conducted on 700 thousand people (as we know Israel was the world’s largest laboratory) found that those who had experience with previous infections, without having been vaccinated, have 27 times less chance of getting symptoms of Covid infection again than those who have been vaccinated”. The notes “without being vaccinated” are not in the original text.
When you look at the description of the original study from Israel, you can see that it is a retrospective observational study on the delta variant of the virus, which included not only unvaccinated people but three different groups: (1) previously uninfected people who received two doses of the vaccine, (2 ) previously infected persons who were not vaccinated and (3) previously infected persons who were vaccinated with a single dose.
In the conclusion of this study, it is stated that natural immunity is better protection than two doses of the vaccine, but that individuals who have had Covid and received one dose of the vaccine are additionally protected from the delta variant: “This study showed that natural immunity provides longer-lasting and stronger protection from infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the delta variant of covid, compared to immunity induced by two doses of the vaccine. Individuals who were previously infected with Covid and received a single dose of the vaccine received additional protection from the delta variant”.
Makary himself remarks similarly in the text “The Power of Natural Immunity” which he wrote for the Wall Street Journal: “Should the previously infected be vaccinated? My advice to healthy patients with natural immunity is that one injection is sufficient, and may not be necessary, although it could increase the duration of immunity. A study by the University of Pennsylvania on people previously infected with Covid showed that one dose of the vaccine provoked a strong immune response, without increasing this response after the second dose.
A study from Cleveland
Another significant study that Makary mentions in his article in the Washington Post is the one from Cleveland: “The Cleveland Clinic study of healthcare workers (who are often exposed to the virus) [showed that] no one who previously tested positive for the coronavirus was reinfected. The authors of the study concluded that it is unlikely that individuals who have had a SARS-CoV-2 infection will benefit from vaccination against Covid”.
Again, when translating this segment, Osmanagic inserts what is not in the text: “This was also confirmed by a clinical study conducted in the American city of Cleveland on health workers, who were not vaccinated, but who were constantly exposed to the virus, in which none of them, who have had Covid once and did not get vaccinated, did not get Covid infection again”.
And this study needs to be looked at more carefully to draw relevant conclusions. “The cumulative incidence of Covid was examined among 52,238 employees in the American health care system. Covid did not appear in anyone during the five-month study among 2,579 people who had previously been infected with Covid, including 1,359 who had not received the vaccine”, which confirms that previously infected unvaccinated people did not get Covid again, but that they were only part of the total number of people who were not reinfected. The “cumulative incidence of infection” remained close to zero in both previously infected vaccinated and previously uninfected vaccinated people.
At least he supports vaccination
Let’s also look at this part of the text from the Washington Post: “In January, February and March, we used up the scarce supplies of vaccines on millions of people who previously had Covid. If we had asked Americans who were already protected by natural immunity to give up on vaccines, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved”.
Osmanagic first translates this correctly, and then in an additional explanation he adds interpretations that the author does not mention anywhere: “After having mild forms of Covid infection, unvaccinated people who were forced to receive the vaccine due to blackmail through work and travel, when they got the vaccine, they got more severe forms or have died from the vaccine”.
The fact that Makary supports vaccination was noted in his earlier text, where it is clearly stated: “Let me be clear: I believe the vaccine is safe and I strongly recommend that we vaccinate all Americans”, noting that “Americans with natural immunity – including many who are at low risk – inappropriately get the vaccine instead of the high-risk elderly”.