(LifeSiteNews) – U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time this year despite being “fully vaccinated” and twice-boosted against the virus.
The Associated Press reported that the 69-year-old Austin, who first tested positive for the virus in January, made the announcement Monday, adding that his symptoms are mild.
“Now, as in January, my doctor told me that my fully vaccinated status, including two booster shots, is why my symptoms are less severe than would otherwise be the case,” Austin said. “I will continue to consult closely with my doctor in the coming days.”
“Vaccinations continue to both slow the spread of COVID-19 and to make its health effects less severe,” added the defense secretary, who is currently overseeing the Biden administration’s contentious COVID vaccine mandate for the U.S. military. “Vaccination remains a medical requirement for our workforce, and I continue to encourage everyone to get fully vaccinated and boosted.”
Austin is the latest, but far from the first, example of a vaccinated individual contracting COVID. Others include President Joe Biden, Democrat Sens. Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, six Texas Democrats who fled the state last year in hopes of blocking a vote on an election security bill, left-wing activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, liberal HBO comedian and pundit Bill Maher, and CNBC financial host Jim Cramer.
For many, such cases reinforce lack of confidence in the COVID shots, which were developed far more quickly than traditional vaccines under former President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed initiative and have failed to stop the spread of the virus, and may actually impair rather than strengthen immunity.
The conservative Brownstone Institute has compiled more than 150 research studies finding that COVID immunity from prior infection “is equal to or more robust and superior to existing vaccine.” Studies indicate that natural immunity lasts well over a year, yet the U.S. government has been heavily invested in the narrative that natural immunity is unreliable and the vaccines are the only true protection against COVID.
Last September, White House COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that “I don’t have a really firm answer to you on” why those who have already had COVID should get vaccinated for it, but it was “something that we’re going to have to discuss.” Many Americans assumed such discussions were already well underway.
By contrast, studies have found that vaccine-induced COVID protection wanes around six months (or potentially sooner).