Posted on 08/21/2021 7:06:23 PM PDT by Enlightened1
George Mason University granted a veteran law professor a medical exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate after he filed a lawsuit demanding recognition of his natural immunity, according to his lawyers.
But the Virginia public university has not updated its policy to recognize recovery from prior infection, as proven by antibody testing, as an accepted alternative to vaccination or exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
For that reason, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) said it "continues to explore litigation against GMU." The public interest law firm implied it's scrutinizing other Virginia public universities, asking COVID-recovered faculty to get in touch if their schools are "similarly disregarding the scientific facts surrounding naturally acquired immunity."
The development comes as a raft of new research shows natural immunity is durable and sometimes more protective than vaccine-induced immunity. Todd Zywicki, the GMU professor, has been on the Twitter warpath sharing such research since he lost his initial battle for recognized immunity.
He mocked the CDC Wednesday for misrepresenting the significance of a methodologically flawed Kentucky study that purported to show improved protection for recovered individuals after vaccination, but at best showed a negligible difference between COVID reinfection rates based on vaccination.
https://twitter.com/ToddZywicki/status/1425086399078936585
"GMU has assured Prof. Zywicki that he will not be subject to disciplinary action, and that he will be allowed to hold office hours and attend in-person events provided he maintains six feet of distance," NCLA said.
The professor also must get tested for the novel coronavirus once a week on campus "at no cost to himself," which is a "favorable result" that should encourage other recovered people to challenge "irrational vaccine mandates."
NCLA litigation counsel Jenin Younes told Just the News that the terms were "discussed in a conference and confirmed via email," but spokesperson Judy Pino declined to provide documentation of the agreement. Zywicki confirmed he had no direct communication with his employer of a quarter century.
The court docket hasn't been updated since Aug. 9, six days after the suit was filed, with no GMU response. Pino said she should have "more clarity in the coming days on that front" and pledged to identify "any faculty that we've heard from if and when we file additional litigation on this issue."
The university issued a lengthy statement late Wednesday to rebut unspecified "public reports," emphasizing GMU "has not entered into any settlement" with Zywicki and that it can't comment on his exemption status under state law.
It has not and "does not plan to give" natural-immunity exemptions, which "would not be consistent with current medical science or public health guidance." The university cited CDC and FDA guidance but not published research.
"Professor Zywicki has been treated the same as any other Mason employee and is required to comply with all Mason policies regarding vaccination, testing, face coverings, physical distancing, and other COVID safety precautions," GMU said. "His litigation had no impact on the consideration of his request for a medical exemption from the vaccination requirement."
Natural immunity better at stopping variants
The university took an early uncompromising posture toward employees who resisted sharing their vaccination status by promising to remove their eligibility for merit pay increases.
Zywicki threatened to sue when GMU refused to accept natural immunity as an exemption. He published statements from his doctor about why vaccination is dangerous for him and two co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration on the effectiveness of natural immunity.
The public warning from NCLA apparently prompted President Gregory Washington to issue a threat to fire employees who "fail to receive an exemption and do not disclose their status and receive the vaccine." That language was removed after Just the News asked about it.
The professor has continued to hammer the university since filing suit in early August.
The Wall Street Journal published his op-ed laying out its acceptance of vaccines with documented lower effectiveness than from natural immunity, including Johnson & Johnson and Chinese vaccines.
He also cited research that vaccination carries more frequent and worse side effects for previously infected people, and the inferiority of "spike protein"-designed vaccines against variants such as Delta, because "natural immunity recognizes the entire complement of SARS-CoV-2 proteins."
The medical exemption form used by GMU - which was not posted when Zywicki made his initial threat - may be vague enough for the university to save face. It requires a medical provider to share a diagnosis under which "administration of the immunizing agents may be detrimental to this individual’s health," such as the shingles reactivation his doctor highlighted.
Zywicki and Younes, his lawyer, went on CNN and Virginia talk radio to discuss the case in the days before NCLA announced the agreement.
1) not all report to VAERS - the number is probably much higher.
2) I have antibodies. I don’t need the jab.
That is what is so odd about this. WHY does natural immunity not matter.
It’s a simple blood test for immunity. Why not test for that?
VAERS is highly under reported. Some are saying only 1% is being reported. A debate has started over that number, but the “proven safe” is also being debated.
There is a post, just posted here on FR, UK saying more people dying from vaccine than covid.
I believe they can test for the Anti-Bodies.
The way I see it. If you are still alive, then you are good.
Viruses mutate over time to a weaker form and burn out.
All the “variants” is still Covid 19 from different countries. For instance, the “delta” variant is Covid 19 from India. The “lambda” variant is from Peru.
We give it the geek alphabet names (which should be offensive to Greeks), vs. naming the country of origin. There is no way Covid 19 is still around at this point. Viruses are seasonal.
They will never stop unless people do not comply and push back legally and lawfully. It’s been about 19 months since 2 weeks to stop the spread. See how the game works?
Think about it this way. Did a the same flue virus from a year and half ago stick around before Covid.
Answer: No it dies in the Spring and Summer time.
We have had 2 Springs and 2 Summers and there are still playing the same Covid 19 fear card by calling all these variants. It’s nonsense.
Thank you.
I went and got an antibody test.
I got it free bc I donate my previously Covid-infected blood to cure people who are in the hospital with serious Covid.
Good to know. My doctor won’t order one.
And you will believe an individual anonymous medically unqualified poster over overwhelming majority of doctors!
OK that explains everything about where you are coming from.
So double the numbers reported to VAERS and safety factor drops from 99.998 to 99.996%.
Why stop at double, make it TEN TIMES higher than reported to VAERS. Then vaccine safety factor is still 99.988%.
If you donate blood, they’ll let you know.
Scratch that, the American Red Cross stopped testing for antibodies.
As in almost all posts on FR, the person posting did not write the article. The article was from the UK and was quoting officials. Astrazeneca was the overwhelming vaccine involved.
It is part of the sport here on FR to comment on articles you have not read.
How about suing for our Natural Born Rights, given to us BY GOD, and that government is vested with protecting these rights?
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