NDA Journal 6 Featured Article History shows that sometimes we get it wrong. Can you understand why a healthy 20-year-old woman looking to have a child, who has no comorbidities or naturally acquired immunity, may hesitate to get a COVID shot? What she sees is an mRNA therapy that is the first of its kind, rushed to market in record time and beating all previous vaccine development by years. (Editor’s Note: Vaccine is now defined as something that stimulates the immune system, like infections, trauma, etc. do, rather than “an agent that bestows immunity to a specific disease” as had been the case for hundreds of years previously.) Many Americans have a healthy distrust of Big Pharma and government—especially when vaccine makers are scoring record profits and duplicitous political leaders opined their own skepticism regarding the vaccine before holding office. Under the administration’s possibly illegal new requirements affecting employers with more than 100 employees, either vaccinations or regular testing are required. However, some employers are going even further. United Airlines is leading the pack in bullying its employees into getting the vaccine. In August, United told U.S. employees they will need to be fully vaccinated by October 25, and those who don’t bow to CEO Scott Kirby’s edict will be “terminated.” Even those few who receive exemptions, such as religious or medical exemptions, as required by law, will be put on unpaid leave. These one-size-fits-all company policies are logically inconsistent and medically unnecessary. For example, someone who received the COVID vaccine in December 2020 could still report to work at United, despite the vaccine’s waning effectiveness. Yet an unvaccinated person who had recently recovered from the disease and acquired natural immunity would be fired. This is despite the National Institutes of Health finding that more than 95 % of people who recovered from COVID19 had durable immune memories of the virus up to eight months after infection. A more recent study demonstrated that natural immunity confers longer-lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease, and hospitalization than vaccine-induced immunity. Employers are eager to reach the end of COVID restrictions, like we all are, and they have a duty to provide a safe work environment. However, policies should be accommodating and respect the right of an individual to make his own health-care decisions—especially given the complicated and still-evolving nature of what we know about the virus and the vaccine. Those who choose not to get vaccinated must be free from corporate punishment, coercion, and harassment. If companies choose otherwise, all Americans—vaccinated and unvaccinated—should stand up to corporate tyranny. The COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated the largest American government and corporate power-grab of all time. The corporate vaccine mandates are simply the most recent manifestation of this destruction of liberty. 0 *Dr. Aaron Poynton is the founder and CEO of Omnipoynt Solutions, a government consulting firm. He is a former Army Officer turned business executive and entrepreneur in government technology markets. He holds a doctorate in Public Administration with a research focus on federalism. This article was originally published in the Federalist. References 1) Andreas P, The trump administration wants to shut down vaping? Over a century ago, the government urged soldiers to smoke. The Washington Post, 28 FEB 2020. 2) Blum A, Interview with Attorney Nathan Schachtman, 14 AUG 2020, https://csts.ua.edu/micronite/, accessed 09 May 2022. 3) Furuya S, Chimed-Ochir O, et.al., Global Asbestos Disaster, Int J Environ Res Public Health, MAY 2018, 15:5. 4) CDC, Common Vaccine Safety Questions and Concerns, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/index.html, accessed 09 MAY 2022. 5) Downing N, Nilay D, et.al. Postmarket Safety Events Among Novel Therapeutics Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration Between 2001 and 2010, JAMA, 317(18):1854-1863, 2017. 6) Gazit S, Shlezinger R, et.al. Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough infections, MedRxiv, 25 AUG 2021, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.212624 15v1, accessed 09 MAY 2022. » 6
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