Messrs., Gigot, Murrary, Henninger and colleagues,

Today, I was shocked to read what I know, with 100% certainty as an immunologist and physician, is a lie in the WSJ’s Editorial Board OpEd on COVID-19:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-delta-variant-market-dow-industrial-700-points-11626731103?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Specifically, your colleagues are stating the following falsehood:

“Previously infected individuals appear to be more susceptible to re-infection by the Delta variant, which could explain some of the rising cases.”

This WSJ editorial statement is a dangerous lie, with NO basis in either current scientific epidemiological data or the fundamentals of immunology.

To the contrary, the the bulk of studies on the topic of “re-infection” in the COVID-recovered, are demonstrating that individuals who are COVID-recovered and have thus acquired Antibody and T-cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2, are equally if not better protected from subsequent infection as compared to the vaccinated. Though I am cognizant this fact ought NOT be abused as an argument for seeking natural infection as a pathway to immunity, it IS the argument for not allowing coercion of COVID-recovered Americans into undergoing what is an unnecessary and potentially dangerous treatment to them.

I am left wondering why the editorial board of a respected media outlet like the WSJ would allow itself to spread such a lie with no stringent verification:

1) Are you simply careless journalists now? or

2) Are you now active participants in the US Government’s publicity machine attempting to impose a “one-size-fits-all” vaccine policy on all Americans, irrespective of medical necessity, the fundamentals of immunological science and medical ethics?

Irrespective of what the reason is for the lie you have now published in today’s editorial article, it is an absolute journalistic duty for you to either correct or retract this false statement immediately— given that you have been alerted to it.

For the WSJ to publish a critical false statement that opens the door to misleading the public and galvanizing generalist politicians and regulators into comfortably accepting unnecessary, and potentially dangerous coerced vaccination of the already immune subset of Americans, is a florid and dangerous dereliction of journalistic duty — but, of course, this seems to the norm for the mainstream media these days.

Please immediately retract your editorial board’s false statement and correct it to reflect the truth of what is known — and what the science of immunology actually would predict. Your editorial piece, as it stands, promotes a very serious lie to the American people.

Sincerely,

Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD

noorchashm@gmail.com