"Individuals who were both previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant."
This particular article is.. just trying to drum up why people shouldn't get the vaccine. Without saying, "don't get the vaccine."
Should people get natural immunity? No, what a daft idea when a safe vaccine exists.
You wouldn't say the same about smallpox. Good lord.
There is only "immunity", which you gain after recovering from Covid. Whether you were unvaccinated or vaccinated at the time of infection is something that affects the risk of serious illness. But once the person has recovered, they are immune and need no further vaccines or boosters, since they have nasal immunity, serum/blood antibodies (for a period of time) and long term T-cell defenses.
A vaccinated and Covid-naive person is not immune, they are only protected from serious illness. The CDC updated their website in Sept. 2021 to make this clear.
Hospitals should prioritize hiring of nurses, doctors and other personnel with immunity.
This has been the policy for other diseases for a long time, eg, require yellow fever vaccinations even from people who had yellow fever. Quoting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Certificate_of_V... :
> The ICVP is not an immunity passport; the primary difference is that vaccination certificates such as the ICVP incentivise individuals to obtain vaccination against a disease, while immunity passports incentivise individuals to get infected with and recover from a disease.
Why does a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School not include that counter-argument?
The author makes statements that are not supported by the nominal supporting materials. For example, "Hence, we are now seeing a fierce competition where hospitals and nursing homes are desperately trying to hire people with natural immunity. Well, actually, not. "
I followed the "actually" link, to https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-06-22/housto... .
I don't see anyone described has declining the vaccination because they already had the disease. I also see how Jennifer Bridges, who refused to be vaccinated, "received multiple offers from private nursing companies sympathetic to her cause and started working for one of them Tuesday, with the same pay and benefits."
The "Well" link also doesn't support the claim that the people who declined to get vaccinated already had natural immunity due to having got the disease.