5 ms·

s/a decade/in perpetuity We'll almost certainly need an annual covid vaccination for the same reasons we get annual flu vaccinations - with our current medical

s/a decade/in perpetuity We'll almost certainly need an annual covid vaccination for the same reasons we get annual flu vaccinations - with our current medical technology we can neither rid the planet of the virus nor obtain permanent immunity.

dheera 6y ago
Sure, that works. I didn't get flu shots in the past mostly because the shot hurts more than the flu, but COVID is another animal and pretty scary. Maybe they could be combined into a single poke.
CWuestefeld 6y ago
We'll almost certainly need an annual covid vaccination In fact we have no idea how long this vaccine or any other [of the experimental covid-19 vaccines] will last for. They've got projections out to at least a year, but uncertainty becomes too great after that. It may last quite a long time, we don't really know. for the same reasons we get annual flu vaccinations No. We get annual flu vaccinations because flu viruses mutate significantly and quickly, so we're always getting vaccinated against new threats. Not against threats that we've forgot how to defend against. [edited to clarify that the uncertainty is around the experimental vaccines; for old standards, we do have a very good idea]
- coryfklein 6y ago
  > projections out to at least a year You're right - I should have said "periodic vaccination", not annual. Also yeah, there's a subtle difference between why we'd need periodic covid vaccinations vs flu vaccinations. But in the end the result is the same, we'll probably need to be re-vaccinated against covid over time. Covid isn't going away because it has a non-human animal reservoir, so it's all about a strategy to prevent it's re-emergence into the sapiens reservoir. It's possible that periodic vaccinations of the population as a whole would be overkill and we could reactively immunize smaller populations as re-infection occurs.
  - CWuestefeld 6y ago
    Another interesting open question is what's the "failure mode" as our immunity wears off. Do we become vulnerable to the full danger again? Or can we expect to contract the virus again, but this time the body will be better able to jump to defense quickly, making the most severe cases less likely?

dheera 6y ago

Sure, that works. I didn't get flu shots in the past mostly because the shot hurts more than the flu, but COVID is another animal and pretty scary. Maybe they could be combined into a single poke.

CWuestefeld 6y ago

We'll almost certainly need an annual covid vaccination In fact we have no idea how long this vaccine or any other [of the experimental covid-19 vaccines] will last for. They've got projections out to at least a year, but uncertainty becomes too great after that. It may last quite a long time, we don't really know. for the same reasons we get annual flu vaccinations No. We get annual flu vaccinations because flu viruses mutate significantly and quickly, so we're always getting vaccinated against new threats. Not against threats that we've forgot how to defend against. [edited to clarify that the uncertainty is around the experimental vaccines; for old standards, we do have a very good idea]

coryfklein 6y ago
> projections out to at least a year You're right - I should have said "periodic vaccination", not annual. Also yeah, there's a subtle difference between why we'd need periodic covid vaccinations vs flu vaccinations. But in the end the result is the same, we'll probably need to be re-vaccinated against covid over time. Covid isn't going away because it has a non-human animal reservoir, so it's all about a strategy to prevent it's re-emergence into the sapiens reservoir. It's possible that periodic vaccinations of the population as a whole would be overkill and we could reactively immunize smaller populations as re-infection occurs.
- CWuestefeld 6y ago
  Another interesting open question is what's the "failure mode" as our immunity wears off. Do we become vulnerable to the full danger again? Or can we expect to contract the virus again, but this time the body will be better able to jump to defense quickly, making the most severe cases less likely?