Why isn't infection treated in a similar manner to vaccination?
Wouldn't infection be similar to having an injected and nasal vaccine at the same time?
Because, no matter how many times the Republicans pretend they're the same they're not. Infection confers good protection against that strain, but provides little protection against variants. That's why we've never had a coronavirus vaccine before--standard techniques produce a vaccine that quickly becomes ineffective. The spike-protein targeted vaccines confer much broader protection--not merely against the strain they are engineered for but against variants also.
Note that while the current vaccine doesn't provide much protection against Omicron infection it still confers well over 90% protection against getting seriously ill.
They didn't have the data earlier.Note that I am using Eric Motherfucking Topol, the guy who made sure that the vaccine EUA happened after the election. One of the most respected medical guys who is not senile like the HIV discoverer.