Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who’s a Pfizer board member, noted that “natural immunity” gained from a prior COVID-19 infection needs to be included in discussions about virus-related policies and mandates. “The balance of the evidence demonstrates that natural immunity confers a durable protection,” Gottlieb said during an Aug. 30 interview, referring to a landmark new preprint Israeli study that found prior COVID-19 infection confers much more protection against the virus than any vaccine. “It’s fair to conclude that.” Although Gottlieb said he would “be careful” about concluding whether natural immunity provides better protection against transmitting the virus, officials “should start assimilating that into our policy discussions.” “Natural infection confers robust and durable immunity,” he said, citing the Israeli study, as well as others. However, whether natural immunity or vaccines are better than one another “isn’t that material” when it comes to policy discussions, Gottlieb said. Last …