>>The U.S. government has been extremely hesitant to admit this (natural immunity) - for fear it will give credence to the insane idea of, "Just go out and get infected, then you'll be fine". And sadly, there *are* jackasses out there (and they ARE jackasses) who are OK with getting it.

FWIW, parents used to hold Chicken Pox and Mumps parties when one kid got infected, so all the kids would get it and be done with it. I knew a kid who got a permanent Bell's Palsy after Mumps, with one-sided facial droop that deformed his appearance, and life. That wasn't from a party, but how would the parents feel if it had been? Thanks heavens for effective vaccination; many parents these days won't even know what Mumps is, or Polio.

Unfortunately Covid appears to exhibit vaccine evasion more than these older viruses, so that now even a 3rd mRNA jab may provide little protection from Omicron. Israel is up to its 4th with record numbers of infections despite highly vaccinated population, with expectation that most people will get it until natural herd immunity is achieved. The jab may assist some elderly and frail people to survive, at least for now.

Also FWIW, there's preprint evidence from Denmark that surviving C19 without a jab probably gives the best protection of all; getting vaccinated appears to reduce the protection. But pre-print, and no longer relevant for highly vaccinated populations where otherwise healthy people appear likely to experience common cold symptoms from omicron.