‘NATURAL IMMUNITY?’

UC Irvine Fires Med School Professor Who Refused to Get Vaccinated

Dr. Aaron Kheriarty claimed his prior exposure to the virus gave him “natural immunity.”

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California Irvine’s medical school, has been fired after suing over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The professor, who is also director of the medical ethics program at UCI Health, had refused to follow UC Irvine’s vaccine mandate, claiming he already had natural immunity to COVID-19. Kheriarty sued the University of California Board of Regents and system president Michael V. Drake in August, alleging he should receive an exemption from the vaccine mandate because he developed a “natural immunity” to it after being exposed. He expressed dismay over UCI dismissing him and others for what he called “arbitrary and capricious” reasoning. “Once I challenged one of their policies I immediately became a ‘threat to the health and safety of our community,’” he wrote.