GOP embraces natural immunity as substitute for vaccines

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republicans fighting President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates are wielding a new weapon against the White House rules: natural immunity. This week, Florida wrote natural immunity into state law as GOP lawmakers elsewhere are pushing similar measures to sidestep vaccine mandates. Lawsuits over the mandates have also begun leaning on the idea. Conservative federal lawmakers have implored regulators to consider natural immunity when formulating mandates. The argument is that a person who has recovered from the virus has enough immunity and antibodies to not need COVID-19 vaccines, and it has been invoked time and time again in recent weeks by Republicans as a sort of stand-in for vaccines.