With COVID “vaccine passports” becoming a point of contention in states like Florida and Texas, where the governors there have moved to ban them (see Bluff Called: Ron DeSantis Wins Big Time Over Cruise Line’s ‘Vaccine Passports’), has anyone truly stopped to ask whether they even make sense?

That’s a question I’ve pondered and given my opinion on several times, and a new study shared by Rand Paul may be just the piece of evidence needed to make things conclusive.

(related Rand Paul Responds to Bombshell Fauci Emails)

This information frees up millions of doses of vaccines for those not yet infected in places with vaccine shortages like India.https://t.co/V5EOqZ1CPm

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 8, 2021

The Cleveland Clinic studied over 52,000 employees, some of whom are vaccinated and others who are not but have had the virus at some point in the past, and found that the incidence of infection and spread among the two groups is basically identical. In short, natural immunity is not only real, but it’s highly effective.

This means what many of us have been saying for a long time is correct. There is simply no scientific need for people who’ve got natural immunity to run out and get vaccinated, especially when there are places around the world that desperately need doses to fight current outbreaks. That’s not to say a person who has had COVID can’t get vaccinated. It’s a free country, after all, but there’s no reason to force people to do so.

What this means in relation to vaccine passports is that they are arbitrary and nonsensical. There are estimates of over 50 million people in the country who enjoy natural immunity due to prior infection, and I’d speculate that’s on the low end given how many asymptomatic cases probably exist for every positive test. There is zero justification for discriminating against them by requiring vaccine passports. Science says they are protected and can protect others in the same way vaccinated people can.

Cruise lines, for example, already require a negative test before boarding. What exactly is the worth of a vaccine passport if someone has tested negative and natural immunity is so obviously widespread? Past that, anyone worried can simply go get vaccinated. This study shows that any continued effort to require vaccine passports is simply political and not based on science. If these corporations were accepting antibody tests, they might have a leg to stand on in claiming they simply want proof of immunity. But by requiring vaccinations, they are putting an undue burden on an individual’s right to not get injected with something they may not even need.

Rand Paul is right to keep hitting this topic, and I hope he continues to bring light to just how empty the phrase “follow the science” has become on the left and in the media.