4 ms·

> I do not see any long term way out of covid pandemic other than natural immunity. We get annual boosters for many viruses. If you’re really hell bent on gett

> I do not see any long term way out of covid pandemic other than natural immunity. We get annual boosters for many viruses. If you’re really hell bent on getting covid, your likelihood of severe illness is 10x less with at least one dose of the vaccine, and your immunity will be higher than infection alone. The messaging that natural immunity is the only way out, and that getting the virus is somehow ‘better’ than the vaccine is ludicrous.

angelzen 5y ago
There are no mandatory annual shots. Tired of personalization of the disease. I'm not 'hell bent' to do anything. Covid is endemic, there is no herd immunity. The only question is how to manage the severity of the disease, for all the infection events to occur in the long run. I'm vaccinated and keep an eye on https://www.novavax.com/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-updates https://www.novavax.com/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-candida.... Or do I need to tattoo 'Pfizer' on my forehead to be allowed to participate in society?
- jasonlaramburu 5y ago
  The vaccines are remarkably effective against death and severe disease on all timescales measured. What appears to decline is sterilizing immunity, meaning after 6-8months you may show symptoms if infected. It is unlikely boosters will be mandated for all. And to be clear, this vaccine denial is a uniquely American problem. In Denmark over 80% of the eligible population is voluntarily vaccinated. They are now able to do away with virtually all Covid restrictions.
  - angelzen 5y ago
    The American situation is very concerning. I suspect it is correlated with the high temperature of the American public discourse. Whenever we encounter a different opinion, we assume the worst and immediately reach for the flamethrower. Not sure what to do about it, I caught myself doing it and I like to believe I am on-guard for this kind of behavior. I substantively edit my messages to remove first draft inflammatory words. Perhaps the old email advice: put it in drafts and send it tomorrow morning. I've been thinking lately that even on HN having a 'parent upvoted your reply' signal might be an interesting experiment for promoting civil discourse.
  - DenisM 5y ago
    Sterilizing immunity means preventing infection, not just symptoms. And it’s practically unattainable, esp for COVID. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210203-why-vaccinated-people-may-still-be-able-to-spread-covid-19 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210203-why-vaccinated-p... Also existence of Denmark with high vax rates does not imply that the problem is uniquely American. To wit, Russia is even farther ahead in that regard. So no, it’s not uniquely American.
    - jasonlaramburu 5y ago
      Sorry I’m not following. Russia has a much lower vaccination rate than the US: ~30% versus 54%. They also have an arguably inferior vaccine.
      - DenisM 5y ago
        Russia has low vaccination rate problem ay least as much as America, therefore the problem of low vaccination rates is not uniquely American, it's a Russian problem too. Does that make sense?
  - IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago
    >>> unique american problem this is untrue japan has far lower vaccination rates than the US
    - jasonlaramburu 5y ago
      Is that primarily due to vaccine denial or poor government planning?
  - ddingus 5y ago
    Americans were lining up in the streets to get polio vaccine and were pissed when it was unavailable. I think a whole lot of this angst boils down to society running well, due to this work in the past. Then people forget, believe it all works differently than it really does. Now we are faced with a global problem, shared risks, shared resources and a whole lot of relearning to do.

angelzen 5y ago

There are no mandatory annual shots. Tired of personalization of the disease. I'm not 'hell bent' to do anything. Covid is endemic, there is no herd immunity. The only question is how to manage the severity of the disease, for all the infection events to occur in the long run. I'm vaccinated and keep an eye on https://www.novavax.com/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-updates https://www.novavax.com/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-candida.... Or do I need to tattoo 'Pfizer' on my forehead to be allowed to participate in society?

jasonlaramburu 5y ago
The vaccines are remarkably effective against death and severe disease on all timescales measured. What appears to decline is sterilizing immunity, meaning after 6-8months you may show symptoms if infected. It is unlikely boosters will be mandated for all. And to be clear, this vaccine denial is a uniquely American problem. In Denmark over 80% of the eligible population is voluntarily vaccinated. They are now able to do away with virtually all Covid restrictions.
- angelzen 5y ago
  The American situation is very concerning. I suspect it is correlated with the high temperature of the American public discourse. Whenever we encounter a different opinion, we assume the worst and immediately reach for the flamethrower. Not sure what to do about it, I caught myself doing it and I like to believe I am on-guard for this kind of behavior. I substantively edit my messages to remove first draft inflammatory words. Perhaps the old email advice: put it in drafts and send it tomorrow morning. I've been thinking lately that even on HN having a 'parent upvoted your reply' signal might be an interesting experiment for promoting civil discourse.
- DenisM 5y ago
  Sterilizing immunity means preventing infection, not just symptoms. And it’s practically unattainable, esp for COVID. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210203-why-vaccinated-people-may-still-be-able-to-spread-covid-19 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210203-why-vaccinated-p... Also existence of Denmark with high vax rates does not imply that the problem is uniquely American. To wit, Russia is even farther ahead in that regard. So no, it’s not uniquely American.
  - jasonlaramburu 5y ago
    Sorry I’m not following. Russia has a much lower vaccination rate than the US: ~30% versus 54%. They also have an arguably inferior vaccine.
    - DenisM 5y ago
      Russia has low vaccination rate problem ay least as much as America, therefore the problem of low vaccination rates is not uniquely American, it's a Russian problem too. Does that make sense?
- IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago
  >>> unique american problem this is untrue japan has far lower vaccination rates than the US
  - jasonlaramburu 5y ago
    Is that primarily due to vaccine denial or poor government planning?
- ddingus 5y ago
  Americans were lining up in the streets to get polio vaccine and were pissed when it was unavailable. I think a whole lot of this angst boils down to society running well, due to this work in the past. Then people forget, believe it all works differently than it really does. Now we are faced with a global problem, shared risks, shared resources and a whole lot of relearning to do.