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George Mason University Professor Speaks Out After Challenging Anti-Science Vaccine Mandate: "Why are My Natural Antibodies the Wrong Type of Immunity?"
The Federalist ^ | 08/26/2021 | Audrey Unverferth

Posted on 08/26/2021 9:26:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

George Mason University Professor Todd Zywicki isn’t a pushover to anti-science COVID-19 policies. Zywicki has natural immunity to the virus, and thanks to his own hard work and that of his legal team, Zywicki has been granted a medical exemption from his employer’s vaccine mandate. He’s also created a blueprint for others to potentially follow suit.

Zywicki Fought Back and Was Rewarded

George Mason University (GMU) tried to penalize Zywicki for possessing the “wrong type” of COVID immunity, but he wasn’t having it. As a law professor beginning his 24th year teaching at Virginia’s largest four-year public university, Zywicki enjoys well-documented, robust natural immunity from COVID because he already contracted and fully recovered from the virus last year.

“My immunologist says that my antibody level is comparable to somebody who’s been vaccinated,” Zywicki told The Federalist. “The science is quite clear that … natural immunity is at least as effective as the most effective vaccines, meaning 90-95 percent, which the Pfizer and Moderna claim they have, clearly more effective than a less effective vaccine like Johnson & Johson, which is only 66 percent. And it’s not even … a serious discussion whether it’s more protective than Sinovac and Sinopharm.”

Clinical studies from the Cleveland Clinic, Israel, and England support these assertions. Natural immunity is a powerful, long-lasting defense against COVID, and Zywicki said it “protects against a greater array of variants” than the vaccines on the market. The protection afforded by vaccines is reportedly waning, and breakthrough infections are spreading globally.

When GMU tried to coerce Zywicki into getting vaccinated anyway, he had his lawyers at the New Civil Liberties Alliance file suit against GMU on his behalf. Zywicki also slammed his employer’s broad vaccine mandate via a Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which he argued that “there’s no justification for a coercive violation of [his] bodily autonomy.”

Thanks to his willingness to stand up for his convictions, Zywicki himself won’t have to get vaccinated this fall, he won’t be subject to disciplinary action, and he’ll be able to hold office hours and attend in-person events. Zywicki must maintain six feet of distance from others and get tested for COVID on a weekly basis, however, meaning there are still strings attached to his “medical exemption.”

GMU Forces Those with Natural Immunity to Get the Jab

For some reason, the science isn’t enough for GMU. “Strangely, despite solid scientific evidence, GMU continues to refuse to recognize that Covid-19 vaccination is medically unnecessary for ALL students, faculty, and staff with naturally acquired immunity demonstrated with antibody testing,” Zywicki’s legal team said in a press release.

Zywicki said that according to his employer’s blanket policy, employees who don’t receive religious or medical exemptions must get injected with a vaccine that’s been approved by the World Health Organization.

As Zywicki put it, employees who receive the “low-quality Chinese vaccines such as the Sinovac vaccine, which the WHO concluded was only 51 percent effective at preventing symptomatic disease, and the Sinopharm vaccine, which has performed so poorly that some countries are systematically revaccinating their populations with higher-quality options,” meet GMU’s vaccine requirements. But unless they receive an exemption, GMU employees with natural immunity do not meet such requirements.

This Isn’t Rocket Science

After Zywicki got shingles this spring, he had an epiphany. “When I recovered … I said to my doctor … OK, now that I’ve recovered from shingles, should I get the shingles vaccine?” he recollected. “[My doctor] looked at me, and … he was kind of thinking, How could somebody as stupid as you possibly be a professor of anything? … He said, like he was talking to a kindergartener, ‘Well, no, you obviously don’t get vaccinated for a virus right after you’ve recovered from the virus.’”

“He says, ‘Look, here’s your antibody levels [for] the shingles virus. You are protected from getting reinfected by the shingles virus for a long time.’ And then he said, ‘And if you get vaccinated, you have a really high risk of hyper-inflaming your immune system,’” Zywicki continued. “I walked out of his office and I said to myself, COVID is also a virus. And I’ve had COVID. I should find out what my antibodies levels are. … I should find out whether it’s necessary and safe for me to get vaccinated.”

Zywicki quickly concluded that he shouldn’t get the COVID vaccine. “It’s really not that complicated. … So what’s the counterargument? … [T]here is no counterargument,” Zywicki said.

One-Size-Fits-All Policies Are ‘Vicious’

Zywicki said that those who possess natural immunity have been largely excluded from vaccine clinical trials, meaning that any claims about the safety of vaccinating people with natural immunity are predominantly speculative. Zywicki also said, “Clinical evidence has suggested that COVID survivors suffer more frequent and more serious side effects from vaccination than those who have never been infected,” presumably because their healthy immune systems are prone to hyper-inflammation.

“It is irresponsible, it is vicious, to force college students who have recovered from COVID to then go get vaccinated,” Zywicki said. “We know the baseline risk is really, really low. … It’s already an open question as to whether … the risk-benefit for a younger person even makes sense, considering their low baseline risk. … Now add to that, they not only have the baseline risk, they’ve actually gotten COVID and recovered and they have natural immunity. That is as close to bulletproof as you are ever going to find.”

Moreover, Zywicki said that “the younger you are, the more likely … to have a severe adverse reaction to vaccination.”

“And so the lesson here is clear,” Zywicki continued. “It’s completely wrong for somebody like me to get vaccinated … after [developing] natural immunity. … My immunity is durable [and] more resistant,” he emphasized. “[And] with respect to college kids … it’s literally just sick to do this to college kids who have natural immunity to make them … get vaccinated indiscriminately.”

The Establishment Has Its Own Agenda

“The American establishment has decided, for whatever reason, [that] this is the agenda they want to push. And they are going to force it on people, the corporations, the universities — the Democratic politicians are going to do it,” Zywicki reflected.

As Democrats continue to push vaccine mandates, more than 700 American colleges and universities have already taken that step. The University of Virginia disenrolled 238 of its students days before classes resumed because they weren’t in compliance with the university’s vaccine requirements. Meanwhile, countless corporations are similarly coercing their employees into getting the jab. Thanks to Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City recently became the first major U.S. city to announce plans for medical segregation via vaccine passports.

“The public health community now has become completely compromised,” Zywicki lamented. “In terms of pushing bogus information designed to do this, we all know about the ongoing censorship of people who want to talk about vaccine side effects. … People feel crushed under the wheel, [they feel] that the entire machine is just grinding over them.”

“The medical journals are now suppressing and refusing to publish very, very high-quality studies that do not comport with the narrative that they want to push, which is indiscriminate mass vaccinations,” Zywicki argued. “The medical societies and establishment are now threatening to take away the licenses of doctors who they deem to be spreading misinformation about vaccines. … We’re talking about a system of control and censorship that all of these institutions have just fallen in line with.”

The Biden administration is also in on it. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently released a report encouraging Facebook, Twitter, and others to penalize, censor, and surveil COVID dissidents who promote commentary that the establishment deems to be “misinformation.”

Earlier this year, Facebook was reportedly suppressing posts and comments expressing doubts about the coronavirus vaccine. Meanwhile, Twitter silenced a video showing a mom discussing her daughter’s adverse reactions to the Pfizer shot.

Consequently, it’s difficult for people to get correct information. Confronted by a machine that censors scientific inquiry and incessantly promotes vaccines, Zywicki said, “Most people just don’t have the wherewithal to understand this.”

Americans are starved for the truth and suffering. “There are millions of Americans right now … with natural immunity [who] are basically being forced to choose between an unnecessary medical procedure, with elevated risk, that will give them no benefit versus … losing their job,” Zywicki said. “And I think that is really tragic and outrageous that there are so many people who are so callous and cavalier about other people’s health and well-being, that they won’t even look at the science, the completely compelling science here and treat their employees, their students, whoever they are, with dignity and respect, and allow those people to consult with their doctors like I did, and decide what the right thing is when it’s clear that natural immunity is as good as vaccine immunity.”

The Struggle for Science-Based Policies Isn’t Over

Zywicki is relieved by his medical exemption, but he argues the struggle isn’t over. Meanwhile, the New Civil Liberties Alliance “continues to explore litigation against GMU.” And it welcomes input “from others on public-university campuses in Virginia — particularly tenured faculty — who have naturally acquired immunity backed by antibody testing and whose schools are similarly disregarding the scientific facts surrounding naturally acquired immunity.”

“I speak for tens of millions of Americans in the same circumstances I am in, and I call on leaders across the country to develop humane and science-based approaches as opposed to one-size-fits-all policies,” Zywicki emphasized.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: georgemason; lawsuit; university; vaccinemandate; zywicki
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1 posted on 08/26/2021 9:26:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
"Why are My Natural Antibodies the Wrong Type of Immunity?"
Because the drug companies cant profit off of "natural antibodies".

The drug companies need those huge profits because they have the Democrats calling for more money everyday.

2 posted on 08/26/2021 9:40:30 PM PDT by lewislynn ( Supporting your social media is more harmful to the country than voting Democrat)
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To: SeekAndFind
Why? Because mRNA turned out to be a loss leader in cancer therapies and by peddling a few hundred billion doses thru federal mandates and fear porn, the drug companies will freshen their balance sheets.

Your free immune response are mandated to be of no use in balancing said balance sheets.

3 posted on 08/26/2021 9:40:48 PM PDT by blackdog (Sophisticated so public policy is not applicable. )
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To: SeekAndFind

With a name like Zywicki, he must be really easy to find in the phone book or University directory.


4 posted on 08/26/2021 9:44:47 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“clearly more effective than a less effective vaccine like Johnson & Johson, which is only 66 percent.”

That’s old info from what I have seen. Yes, at the 1 month mark this is what was claimed during trials (comparable time-frame to that of the other two vaxes, or 2 weeks after second dose of Pfizer or Moderna), but at 90 days it was shown to be comparable to that of either Pfizer or moderna (in the 90-95% range). None of the vaccine manufacturers stated it provided immunity, just that it would lessen the severity and reduce hospitalizations or severe infection by those percentages.


5 posted on 08/26/2021 9:54:49 PM PDT by jurroppi1 (The Left doesn't have ideas, it has cliches. H/T Flick Lives)
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To: SeekAndFind; jurroppi1

https://www.contagionlive.com/view/j-j-covid-19-vaccine-shows-90-efficacy-in-interim-data


6 posted on 08/26/2021 10:01:18 PM PDT by jurroppi1 (The Left doesn't have ideas, it has cliches. H/T Flick Lives)
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To: SeekAndFind

bkmk


7 posted on 08/26/2021 10:52:29 PM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: jurroppi1

Actually, that is a lie. They said the vaxx would prevent covid. They didn’t change it to get less till until they found out it doesn’t work


8 posted on 08/27/2021 12:35:07 AM PDT by roving
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To: SeekAndFind

Bkmk


9 posted on 08/27/2021 12:47:14 AM PDT by sauropod (Time is like quicksilver, smearing the years... - Bill Nelson)
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To: lewislynn

I disagree

It’s about mandates

More control

Stretch it out and roll out mail in ballots again


10 posted on 08/27/2021 1:27:43 AM PDT by wardaddy (Fear Republic land of grumps)
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To: jurroppi1; roving

Roving is right

The lessen the severity canard began once folks started getting Covid even after vax

Now they are hedging by saying efficacy fades.....pretty fast...

Boosters every six months pretty much till we run out of variants

Meanwhile my having had it immunity is robust at 18 times baseline for a negative test 17 months later...

I’m not anti vax.....my wife who has immunity is getting it so work won’t hassle her

I just think it’s about mandates from the left

You cannot trust anything media govt tech or science say

They are all apparati of the left

A true and effective vax

I would support it but I do not support the intimidation and coercion from folks purporting to help us

No one did that with polio or pox....and I took both

We are in a failed state sinking with lies

We need truth about Covid not opportunists seeking political power from it


11 posted on 08/27/2021 1:34:15 AM PDT by wardaddy (Fear Republic land of grumps)
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To: lewislynn

Their motive may actually be more sinister than simple profit motive. It may be that the vaccinations make the Delta variant more contagious among the vaccinated, and is being used to draw out the crisis to maintain totalitarian control.


12 posted on 08/27/2021 2:19:49 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (America -- July 4, 1776 to November 3, 2020 -- R.I.P.)
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free

“ Their motive may actually be more sinister than simple profit motive. It may be that the vaccinations make the Delta variant more contagious among the vaccinated, and is being used to draw out the crisis to maintain totalitarian control.”
*********************************************************************
Is the Delta variant more contagious than other variants among the people who are UNvaccinated? Of course it is.

Is the Delta variant more contagious than other variants among the people who have been vaccinated? Of course it is.

Is the Delta variant more contagious than other variants among the people who have natural immunity from prior infection? Of course it is.

The above three statements are clearly all true and understood by those who have been paying attention. Simply put, the Delta variant is more infectious than other variants to all regardless of their immunity status.

There is one additional thing that has been shown by studies. And that is that NATURAL immunity is somewhat more efficacious than the immunity acquired by vaccinations. Natural immunity is best.

I’m not aware of any studies that provide support to this but common sense leads me to believe that, among people who already have a degree of immunity either natural or from vaccination, any new exposure to the virus that will STRENGTHEN that immunity.


13 posted on 08/27/2021 3:52:11 AM PDT by House Atreides
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To: SeekAndFind

Because that doesn’t make big pharma any money.

Also because they want to kill you.


14 posted on 08/27/2021 4:31:28 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: House Atreides

You again I see.


15 posted on 08/27/2021 4:33:10 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: sauropod

pfl


16 posted on 08/27/2021 5:23:19 AM PDT by Currentriverrat (MAKE OCTOTHORPS NOT WAR!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Guess my 2 measles, mumps gotten the old fashion way aren’t any good. Never had them again. Never had the Flu either in my 73 yrs. 1 Swine Flu the only 1 I took made me sick for 2 weeks, caused a ER trip for a IV. And a Phenergan shot.


17 posted on 08/27/2021 5:33:38 AM PDT by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks, Constitutional Conservative.)
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To: wardaddy
We need truth about Covid not opportunists seeking political power from it

If you read the local paper or watch the local news there isn't much info. They just regurgitate what ever the politicians and government health professionals say. They don't even report that CDC or Fauci flip flopped again and again. You have to watch Fox or maybe Newsmax to get a second opinion by scientists and health professionals not in government. There are plenty of good podcasts, but the general public at large isn't going to know about them. Also the pink hat wearing soccer mom wouldn't be interested in them anyway.

18 posted on 08/27/2021 5:48:01 AM PDT by EVO X ( )
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To: GailA

I had a Phenergan shot once and it sent me into anaphalactic (sp?) shock. Totally freaked out my doctor. This is another reason I am not getting the vax.


19 posted on 08/27/2021 5:55:27 AM PDT by FalloutShelterGirl (Cool! I found my original screen name!)
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To: wardaddy

I agree with you, about the control aspect of this, but my statement still stands. I read the study statements and they all made the claim as I laid it out. The media and other leftist darlings spun it into the big lie they are having to backtrack on.

This shot never should’ve been called a vaccine. HCQ never should’ve been demonized the way it was (among numerous other things), and we should not still be flattening the curve 1.5 years later.


20 posted on 08/27/2021 7:32:42 AM PDT by jurroppi1 (The Left doesn't have ideas, it has cliches. H/T Flick Lives)
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