Why I Didn’t Get the Covid Vaccine

By Peter J. Leithart, First Things , 9 . 13 . 21

Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute.

I have a confession. I am not vaccinated. In his speech last week, President Biden was scolding me.

The impatient Americans to which the president alluded can’t imagine a good reason to refuse the jab. I can think of several.

I am among the millions of Americans who have natural immunity because I had COVID. Officially, 40 million COVID cases have been recorded in the U.S., but millions have had COVID without knowing it or without seeing a doctor. A recent study in Nature estimates that as many as 100 million Americans were infected before the end of 2020, before the 2021 surges. Despite being derided on social media and ignored in policy-making, natural immunity is more durable and effective than vaccine immunity, according to a recent study from Israel. Some argue that a shot “turbocharges” natural immunity, but there’s also evidence that the naturally immune are more likely to suffer serious adverse effects from the vaccine …

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