News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
91.7FM Alpena and WCML-TV Channel 6 Alpena are off the air. Click here to learn more.

Health official disputes claim made by senate majority leader

Courtesy senatormikeshirkey.com

Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail disputes a claim made in a tweet by state Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey.

The Clarklake Republican, who has had COVID-19, says he has “natural immunity” and should count towards the state’s immunity totals.

Vail points out that the state of Michigan and the Centers for Disease Control do not use the phrase “naturally immunized” to describe people who have had COVID-19.

“While being sick with COVID does provide some immunity, there is really not any good information related to how long that lasts.”

Vail adds that there is also concern about whether that immunity would continue to protect against variants of the coronavirus.

Being infected twice is rare, she says, but can happen, and can lead to life-threatening complications.

I’m Scott Pohl.