3 ms·

I know what you mean but exposure to a virus is different than being “infected”. We’re exposed every day to many different viruses and other pathogens which are

I know what you mean but exposure to a virus is different than being “infected”. We’re exposed every day to many different viruses and other pathogens which are destroyed by our immune system. Infection implies that the pathogen is successfully replicating (symptomatic or not).

CogitoCogito 5y ago
> I know what you mean but exposure to a virus is different than being “infected”. We’re exposed every day to many different viruses and other pathogens which are destroyed by our immune system. Infection implies that the pathogen is successfully replicating (symptomatic or not). How do you know previous vaccines prevented successful replication? They could have prevented disease and/or spread without preventing successful replication as long as they kept replication low enough (where "low enough" depends on the virus, the immune system, etc.). Maybe the poster should have said "symptomatic infection" instead of just "infection". (Though even then it's not true. Many vaccines do not entirely prevent symptomatic infection. The flu vaccine is the most obvious example.)