Paul Kengor: NCAA recognizes natural immunity — when will colleges follow?

The NCAA is finally on the ball. Its Covid-19 Medical Advisory Group has adjusted its definition of “fully vaccinated” to account not only for vaccination but other immunity factors, such as natural immunity — i.e., real immunity. Individual athletes with documented covid-19 infection within 90 days now carry the equivalent of “fully vaccinated.”

It’s about time.

Likewise considered fully vaccinated are athletes within five months of having received the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, as well as those within two months of receiving the Johnson & Johnson shot. Yes, a mere two months for J&J. Of the three major vaccines, J&J’s efficacy declines terribly over time.

Again, it’s about time. Other countries and organizations have done this, including many perceived as restrictive. Consider Austria, which is notorious for covid restrictions. Though indeed very restrictive, the Austrian government permits citizens and travelers to show proof of vaccination or past infection. Or look at the Vatican. It accepts proof of vaccination or recovery from covid.

Though I said it’s about time, it’s actually too late for many collegians.

On campuses with vax mandates, most student athletes with a positive covid infection over the last 90 days already have been vaccinated. Their university demanded it as a requirement for readmission last August. And yet, many got covid anyway, because the original efficacy of all three major vaccines plummets after several months, especially as covid has mutated into new variants.

The new NCAA policy begs a crucial question: If the NCAA is adjusting its guidelines for athletes, why aren’t colleges doing the same for all students? Why is this not general policy for athletes and non-athletes alike?

Really, the NCAA’s sudden shift honoring natural immunity is an indictment of the vax mandates imposed by universities in the fall of 2021. The NCAA’s action comes six months after countless universities forced countless young adults to be injected with vaccines that many tried to decline, especially those who had natural immunity. Many pleaded their case to university officials and even judges (Indiana University had a major case), along with formal medical appeals from their physicians, and yet, their colleges rejected them, threatening to expel them and, in many cases, carrying through.

Some students — athletes among them — experienced precisely the deleterious side effects they feared and warned university officials about, including myocarditis and pericarditis. I personally know of a 19-year-old from this area who shortly after receiving the shot had such severe heart failure that she required a heart transplant and now even awaits a kidney transplant. She is in perilous condition, suffering through dialysis and getting worse day by day.

Many students who appealed forced vaccination did so on grounds of their natural immunity. And yet, the universities flatly rejected those appeals, overruling not only doctors but appeals to rights of conscience and religious freedom.

Only now, after countless young adults who survived covid were forcibly vaccinated against their will, has the NCAA reversed course and started doing the right thing.

For many, it’s too late.

If my child was hospitalized after a college forced him or her to be jabbed despite already having had covid with natural immunity, and despite direct medical and conscience appeals, I would be contacting that university, now — with lawyers.