3 ms·

The flu vaccine is easily explained by targeting different mutations each year. They also have to choose which mutations they think will be most prevalent befor

The flu vaccine is easily explained by targeting different mutations each year. They also have to choose which mutations they think will be most prevalent before the season starts. Unlike Covid, flu mutations are able to regularly bypass a normal human autoimmune response. I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that’s true of Covid variants, and have first hand experience with several people infected with early variants who had immunity to later variants. Several years ago there was a flu mutation that was similar enough to a flu from the 1930s (iirc) that people who caught it back then were still immune. It’s not that we need new vaccines for the same virus each year, the virus has just mutated enough that our immune response isn’t trained to identify it. We don’t know how long natural antibodies for Covid last. In my family, members were still immune 9 months after infection and had higher antibody counts than those who were symptomatic. Why is there such a push to convince people that our immune system works differently for this particular virus?

unclebucknasty 5y ago
>It’s not that we need new vaccines for the same virus each year, the virus has just mutated enough that our immune response isn’t trained to identify it. The inference here is categorically false. Vaccine protection against the flu begins to wane within weeks, and the reason is not owed to mutations: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/09/study-flu-vaccine-protection-starts-wane-within-weeks https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/09/study-fl... https://www.science.org/content/article/why-flu-vaccines-don-t-protect-people-long https://www.science.org/content/article/why-flu-vaccines-don... >Why is there such a push to convince people that our immune system works differently for this particular virus? There is no such push. You and others are just misinformed about how the immune system works and, unfortunately, spreading that misinformation--as here.
- jonhohle 5y ago
  How does ephemeral immunity from flu vaccines help the case for Covid vaccines and hurt the case against natural immunity? As mentioned in other comments, however anecdotal, multiple members of my household and extended family have durable immunity 9 months after their infections, without vaccination.

unclebucknasty 5y ago

>It’s not that we need new vaccines for the same virus each year, the virus has just mutated enough that our immune response isn’t trained to identify it. The inference here is categorically false. Vaccine protection against the flu begins to wane within weeks, and the reason is not owed to mutations: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/09/study-flu-vaccine-protection-starts-wane-within-weeks https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/09/study-fl... https://www.science.org/content/article/why-flu-vaccines-don-t-protect-people-long https://www.science.org/content/article/why-flu-vaccines-don... >Why is there such a push to convince people that our immune system works differently for this particular virus? There is no such push. You and others are just misinformed about how the immune system works and, unfortunately, spreading that misinformation--as here.

jonhohle 5y ago
How does ephemeral immunity from flu vaccines help the case for Covid vaccines and hurt the case against natural immunity? As mentioned in other comments, however anecdotal, multiple members of my household and extended family have durable immunity 9 months after their infections, without vaccination.