We've received a fair bit of mail in response to our most recent post about natural immunity and the transmissibility of covid-19 from fully vaccinated individuals, and we've reprinted a cross section of those here along with our answers
Why are Hawaii politicians ignoring the natural immunity had by more than 81,000 Hawaii residents, and why is Hawaii's DOH refusing to share data with epidemiologists?
We have been swamped with mail regarding our most recent pandemic article; here is a cross section of the questions and our responses:
"Is Hawaii Ocean News opposed to the vaccine?"
"Is Hawaii Ocean News opposed to the vaccine?". The answer is absolutely NOT. Most of the staff members at HON are fully vaccinated.
"Are we just supposed to believe someone when they tell us that they have natural immunity?"
"Are we just supposed to believe someone when they tell us that they have natural immunity?"
"How does a person prove that he or she has natural immunity?"
". . . are we just supposed to take their word for it?"
The answer to the proof of natural immunity question is quite simple, but will require a little bit of leg work on the part of the person who is claiming to have natural immunity:
First: the person who claims to have natural immunity must show proof of a positive covid-19 test. That written proof must be on file with their primary care physician.
Second: the person claiming to have natural immunity, must, through their primary care physician, order the two separate blood work-up tests needed to show that they have the antibodies for covid-19. The resulting documents are numbered by the laboratory and must be filed with your primary care physician.
Thirdly: once the primary care physician has this paperwork in hand, he or she then transmits a letter to the DOH letting that office know that his or her patient has all of the necessary paperwork on file to prove natural immunity; the physician then requests that their patient be certified as having immunity to the virus equal to or better than those who are fully vaccinated. The certification process comes directly from a physician — NOT the patient. Once this paperwork has been received by the DOH, the person with natural immunity should immediately be given the same — or perhaps better — status than those who are fully vaccinated, as the person who has natural immunity is, according to the most recent studies, seven times LESS likely to contract covid-19 compared with people who are fully vaccinated.
"Isn't this just another form of misinformation?"
Another question we got quite often was one suggesting that we were spreading misinformation about immunity status and covid-19 infections. In actual fact, everything that we have written is based on the most up-to-date science and is backed up with references to real scientific journals or reports. Our feeling here is that misinformation is lethally dangerous — there has already been too much confusion resulting from all of the misinformation online.
The feeling at HON is that our own mainstream media here is spreading misinformation by not reporting all of the facts, things like the fact that fully vaccinated individuals can also be spreaders of covid-19, for example, or that people who have natural immunity somehow don't have immunity at all. According to recent studies, there is no such thing as a fully vaccinated individual who cannot contract covid-19 — this scenario simply does not exist. Hospitals in Israel, right now, are jam-packed with covid-19 patients who have been fully vaccinated. Secondly, the idea of ignoring natural immunity, despite some 15 different recent studies — and the first of many lawsuits now underway — now affirming the superiority of natural immunity, is simply just another form of misinformation. Our mainstream media here and the government of Hawaii need to stop spreading misinformation and get back on track with current science.
(Note to reader: Hawaii's vaccine mandate requires that in order to enter a city or state office, take part in certain public events, or enter certain private establishments, a person either needs to show proof of vaccination or must present a negative Covid test no older than 72 hours. The mandate ignores the latest science: with the advent of the delta variant, the vaccine is now far less effective and those who are fully vaccinated can very definitely end up contracting the disease, spreading the disease, and/or become hospitalized as a result of the infection. According to Hawaii's vaccine passport requirements, the vaccinated do NOT have to show proof of a recent Covid test even though they can be contagious. There are 81,000 residents in Hawaii who have survived a Covid infection and now have, according to the latest science, superior immunity to that gotten from a vaccine. 81,000 people in Hawaii have been ignored by the mandate and, despite their immunity, must show proof of a recent Covid test. Natural immunity does not exist in Hawaii? So what's the agenda?
No one at Hawaii Ocean News is anti-vaccine. We feel that an individual's decision to get the vaccine is based on his or her own risk-vs-reward assessment.)
I hope you are a better sailor than epidemiologist.
Hi Paul . . . thank you for your comment. We generally expect that our readers will read the article first and THEN comment. The decision to publish this series on Covid was not taken lightly. We have two members on staff who have an affiliation with the medical industry and are especially well versed on the subject of medical ethics and public health. Could you point to something specific within our post that might qualify as “unlettered argument”? The volunteers at Hawaii Ocean News, most of whom are fully vaccinated, are committed to telling the truth about Hawaii’s government, regardless of how inconvenient that truth may seem. By the way, we couldn’t agree with you more about Mr. Underwood. After tracking his activity over the past 5 years there is reason to believe that the only thing standing between him and a jail cell is the lack of a thorough federal investigation.
What are the two tests for antibody proof? And where is this information submitted on the hawaii.gov website? And does this have to be done from a physician in Hawaii?
Thank you for your articles. They show that people can think for themselves and are not just robots without backbone.
Aloha Mercy. More than ever now, with over 100,000 people in Hawaii having recovered from a Covid infection and acquiring natural immunity as a result (and being discriminated against by Hawaii’s current vaccine mandate), it is very important that the people of Hawaii begin to push back on a government that is not working for the best interests of the community. Since this article was published, we have spoken to several people who have gotten letters from their doctors attesting to their natural immunity status. Two of the tests that are available are: 1) SARS-CoV-2 NuclCapsd, Total Ab, Qual (cent) (with SARS-CoV-2 NC, Total Ab Qual Index)
And 2) SARS-CoV-2 Spike, Total Ab, Semi-Qnt (cent).
There is no question in medical science now that natural immunity is the gold standard, and vaccinated immunity is but a distant cousin — there have, so far, been 18 recent scientific studies published in this regard. Libby Char, David Ige, et al., are showboating at the expense of the quality of lives of the people in this community.
Hi Katherine, I wanted to know the address for the DOH that the physician can use to send the natural immunity letter. Do you know what it would be and if they send a response that they received the letter? Have you heard more from anyone else who sent letters to them? Thank you.
Aloha Mercedes,
Thank you for your message. The State of Hawaii’s Department of Health, and the Governor’s office, refuse to recognize natural immunity, even though the CDC has recognized it, as well as most countries around the world. It appears to us that the people of Hawaii have been misled by those in whom we have placed our trust.
In the article that you refer to, I was attempting to demonstrate how easy it could be for residents to declare natural immunity and receive the same advantages as those who have been vaccinated. If you have been following the news, the vaccine does not work well against the new Omicron variant. People who have been vaccinated have ended up in the hospital with serious Covid-19 infections.
According to recent studies, those with natural immunity are much less likely to have a serious Covid-19 infection.
So, long-story-short, the State of Hawaii is not accepting applications for exemption to the vaccine mandate from people who have natural immunity. We suggest to everyone who has natural immunity to write a letter of protest to the governors office.
Katherine Lindell