Metro

Jewish media presses city for natural-immunity data

By
Social Links for Conor Skelding
Published Sep. 18, 2021
Updated Sep. 18, 2021, 1:07 p.m. ET
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi speaks to reporters during a news conference at one of New York City's COVID-19 Vaccine Hubs at the South Bronx Educational Campus, in the Bronx borough of New York. Chokshi, the face of the city's campaign to halt the spread of the coronavirus, announced Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, that he has been infected with the virus himself.
Dave Chokshi said to New York's Jewish press that the city won't release COVID-19 case data unless it's "connected to a public health purpose." Mary Altaffer/AP

The city refuses to release data on the strength of COVID-19 natural immunity sought by Jewish media.

Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said on a conference call with members of New York’s Jewish press that the city won’t release COVID-19 case data unless it’s “connected to a public health purpose,” the orthodox newspaper Hamodia reported.

The paper cited an unpublished not-yet-peer-reviewed study, out of Israel which found that “natural immunity” confers stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization from the Delta variant that the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.

Chokshi and Mayor Bill de Blasio have refused to directly answer a question from a reporter asking why individuals who were previously infected aren’t granted the same rights as those who are vaccinated, such as eating in restaurants and attending concerts, the paper reported.

Neither Chokshi nor Mayor Bill de Blasio would directly answer a question from a Hamodia reporter on the call asking why individuals who were previously infected aren’t granted the same rights as those who are vaccinated, such as eating in restaurants and attending concerts, the paper reported.

The city refuses to release data on the strength of COVID-19 natural immunity sought by Jewish media.
The city refuses to release data on the strength of COVID-19 natural immunity sought by Jewish media. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post

Another unpublished, unreviewed study from the Cleveland Clinic in June appears to show similar results, finding “not one” previously infected but unvaccinated subject was reinfected, and that previously infected people might not benefit from the jab.

The European Union’s COVID-19 health pass honors recovery from the virus alongside vaccination. “Fully vaccinated persons with the EU Digital COVID Certificate should be exempted from travel-related testing or quarantine,” according to the EU. “The same is true for recovered persons with the certificate.”

A rep for the city health department, Patrick Gallahue, said in a statement: “We would put our data against any other jurisdiction in the country. We publish pages of information every day so that people can be informed about what is happening in our city and how they can protect themselves. That is the public health purpose we are referring to.”