The Djokovic Dilemma

For those of you not familiar with Novak Djokovic, he is a professional tennis player from Serbia. Not only is he a professional tennis player, but he is one of the world’s top professional tennis players, having won multiple Grand Slam tennis tournaments in the past. On Jan 16 Djokovic was deported from Australia before the first Grand Slam tournament of the year after having his visa canceled by Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke on Jan. 14.

His offense? … He was not vaccinated against Covid.

His main reason for not being vaccinated? … on Dec 17 he had tested positive for Covid.

From the Epoch Times:

Lawyers for the Serbian player contended that he should be allowed to stay in the country and compete under a medical exemption from the vaccination because he had tested positive for the virus in December.

However, he subsequently lost his court battle to have the cancellation of his visa overturned and was forced to leave Australia.

Djokovic’s rival Rafael Nadal went on to win the tournament.

So where’s the dilemma?

Well actually there are multiple dilemmas here.

First- Around the world people are being forced to get the jab, even though many have a variety of different personal reasons for not getting vaccinated. To me accepting some reasons and not accepting other reasons is ludicrous. Who is to judge? Three weeks ago I spoke to someone who was not vaccinated. When she started to explain why, I told her I didn’t care! I didn’t care because that was her personal choice, and if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me. Get the vaccine or do not get the vaccine … who is right? Only time will tell.

Djokovic’s reason?

“I’ve always represented and supported the freedom to chose what you put in your body and for me, that is essential,” he said.

“For me, as an elite professional athlete I have always carefully reviewed and assessed everything that comes in, from the supplements, the food, the water that I drink or sports drinks, anything really that comes into my body as a fuel,” Djokovic continued.

“Based on all the information that I got, I decided not to take the vaccine as of today.”

Second- Djokovic already had Covid as documented by his positive Covid test in December. Almost on a weekly basis these days there are studies coming out that are documenting immunity to Covid from a past Covid infection. Initially an Italian study said that the immunity lasted eighteen months, and a more recent study upped the ante to two years. Where will the bidding stop? SARS 1 which started in the early 2000s has a virus very similar to our present SARS 2, and the natural immunity to SARS 1 is still present now … going on twenty years!

Third- in different countries things are different. In some countries, notably France, the vaccine passport can also be used by individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered within the past six months. The French Open is in May. Since Djokovic tested positive for the virus on Dec. 17, this means he could potentially still travel to the county up until June without getting vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the UK government has declined to say whether or not Djokovic will be able to take part in Wimbledon this year if he remains unvaccinated. Current rules for unvaccinated travelers to the UK mean they only have to take pre-departure and post-departure tests but are not required to isolate unless they test positive for the virus.

Why are we being confronted with this dilemma? The answer is very simple. Those who should know best, e.g. Fauci et al, for whatever reason, have not had the chutzpah to say what will eventually prove to be obvious … infection with Covid provides natural immunity to further Covid. Will this turn out to be 100%? … Probably not, but the protection will be in the 90% range.

Be that as it may, the consequences of this dilemma are far from over. Note that five Supreme Court Justices are apparently not aware of natural immunity, as they just recently ruled that health care workers must get the vaccine to keep their jobs. Whereas it should have been intuitively obvious to SCOTUS that a large percent of these health care workers have already had Covid, and thus, like Djokovic, have natural immunity, I did not notice any reference to natural immunity in their decision.

The present mayor of New York City just fired about 1400 city workers because they were not vaccinated. When the beneficial effect of natural immunity becomes more and more apparent, will many of these workers file suit to not only get their jobs back, but also to get their deserved back pay?

From now on each time you hear about the continuing consequences of the Djokovic Dilemma, remember that it is all because ‘those that know best’ did not have the courage to say what they should have known about natural immunity all along!

2/19/22