Pennacchio: Recovered COVID Patients, Fully Vaccinated Should Have Same Rights

As COVID-19 mandates increase, State Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-26) plans to introduce legislation to treat recovered coronavirus patients the same as those who have been vaccinated.

Pennacchio said the bill addresses concerns raised by Republicans with President Joe Biden’s decision to require vaccines for Americans. Along with the Federal and state government, more private businesses, companies, and other venues are requiring vaccine passports for their workers and for the public to participate in their jobs, dining, recreation, and other daily activities.

“The science strongly suggests that people who have recovered from prior COVID-19 infections have a natural immunity that may offer a sufficient amount of protection to make additional vaccinations unnecessary,” said Pennacchio. “My new legislation would offer those with natural immunity as a result of infection the same rights and protections as those who have been vaccinated under any vaccine mandate or passport scheme that may be implemented.”

Rights of COVID-19 Patients

The GOP lawmaker cited recent studies from Israel that suggests natural immunity confers 13 times the protection provided by two doses of Pfizer vaccine. He stressed that continued studies, science, and data should determine the best course of COVID therapeutics and vaccination and that public policy must be based on transparent, identifiable science and data.

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“At this point, the science and data point to an advantage that recovered COVID patients have over vaccinated patients,” said Pennacchio. “Minimally, public policy with regard to access to work and other venues should treat them the same.”

Pennacchio, a leading critic of the Murphy Administration who has repeatedly called for a bipartisan investigation into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, questioned whether the administration of a booster should only be determined by antibody levels that seem to decrease two months after vaccination. In his statement announcing his plans, the State Senator made sure to strongly advise against people taking it upon themselves to encourage COVID infections upon themselves as a way of acquiring natural immunity. 

Four Mandates in Garden State

The Morris County lawmaker continued his questioning of why New Jersey’s public health policy is not following the science and data. Pennacchio noted Italy, France and Germany have begun to recognize acquired immunity and now recommend a single “hybrid’ dose of vaccine to those people previously infected with symptomatic COVID. Israel’s green pass allows for both vaccinated and recovered COVID patients to access restaurants, gyms, theaters, and other venues.

“It is unfortunate that the citizens of New Jersey are subjected to changing and inconsistent public health messages, which has fed into public cynicism and resistance to the administration’s public health compliance,” remarked Pennacchio. 

New Jersey has instituted four COVID-19 mandates or subjects those not fully vaccinated to weekly testing. The first was for healthcare workers, who needed to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 7. The next mandate date is Oct. 18, when state employees and school employees are to have received their two doses of Pfizer and Moderena or the one jab Johnson & Johnson. And Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Sept. 20 that all childcare workers are to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1. 

Any legislation Pennacchio will offer will not be considered until later this Fall as the State Senate is not scheduled to reconvene until early November.

Vaccine Distribution

The number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in New Jersey totaled 11,497,966 in-state, plus an additional 424,260 administered out-of-state for a grand total of 11,922,226 as of Sept. 21. Of those who have received the vaccine, 5,602,059 received their second dose or the one jab Johnson & Johnson dose in state and another 182,630 out of state, bringing those fully vaccinated to 5,784,689.

In North Jersey, Bergen County has delivered 1,284,482 doses (626,870 fully vaccinated), Essex 997,150 doses (479,202), Hudson 903,963 doses (434,882), Morris 697,224 doses (339,379), Passaic 619,564 doses (296,424), Sussex 164,165 doses (81,341), and Warren 107,396 doses (52,735). 

Daily Data

As of Sept. 21, the cumulative number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Jersey was 988,710 with 1,822 total new PCR cases. There were 583 probable cases, bringing the cumulative total of antigen tests to 148,306. The total number of individual cases for the state is 1,137,016. 

As for those that have passed, the state reported 38 confirmed deaths, bringing that total to 24,467. The state listed probable deaths at 2,773, bringing the overall total to 27,240. State officials noted 19 deaths occurred in the last 24 hours of reporting that have not yet been lab confirmed.  

For North Jersey counties on Sept. 21, Bergen had a total of 126 new confirmed cases and 64 new probable cases, Essex 147 new cases and 23 new probable case, Hudson 89 new cases and 21 new probable cases, Morris 69 new confirmed cases and 19 new probable cases, Passaic 100 new cases and 34 new probable cases, Sussex 33 new cases and 10 new probable cases, and Warren 17 new cases and two new probable cases.

Of the total confirmed deaths in North Jersey, Essex County has the most with 2,806, followed by Bergen at 2,638, Hudson with 2,136, Passaic at 1,777, Morris at 1,010, Sussex at 249, and Warren County at 223.

In regards to probable deaths reported Sept. 20, Essex has 310, Bergen has 306, Morris has 264, Hudson has 222, Passaic has 206, Sussex has 68 and Warren has 26.

Of the 5,378,465 fully vaccinated individuals studied as of Sept. 7, 22,246 New Jersey residents have tested positive for COVID who were fully vaccinated, resulting in 457 COVID-related hospitalizations and 111 COVID-related deaths. All those are less than 1% in each category.

In the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 6, breakthroughs accounted for 23.2% of all new cases (2,982 of 12,827), 3.4% of new hospilizations (49 of 1,138), and none of the 78 deaths.  

State Testing 

As for the rate of transmission reported Sept. 21, it declined to 1.06 after being at 1.07 for two straight days. The daily rate of infections from those tested Sept. 16 was 5.0%; by region, the rate was 3.9% in the North, 5.4% in the Central region and 6.6% in the South. 

The state reported 1,154 patients were hospitalized; by region, there were 388 in the North, 363 in the Central and 403 in the South. Of those hospitalized, 264 are in intensive care units and 139 on ventilators. A total of 82 patients were discharged in the 24 hour reporting period.

Officials have continually cited transmission rate, hospitalizations, intensive care units, ventilators and positivity rate as health data they rely on to track how the coronavirus is being contained in New Jersey, guiding them in determining when restrictions have to be tightened or lifted.

Long-term Care Facilities

Health officials noted 160 long-term care facilities are currently reporting at least one case of COVID-19, accounting for a total of 1,223 of the cases, broken down between 668 residents and 555 staff. 

Cumulatively, 1,703 long-term care facilities reported a case infecting 33,545 residents and 22,896 staff, for a total of 56,441. 

The state’s official death total will now be reported as those that are lab confirmed, sits at 8,518 on Sept. 21. The facilities are reporting to the state 7,945 residents deaths and 145 staff deaths.