Stop letting the news and the left define the language. When you're having a discussion and someone says "vaccine", stop them and correct them.
We've had flu shots before. This isn't anything close.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html
A vaccine is something that teaches your immune system to recognize a virus. This can be done via a live attenuated virus, dead virus, viral proteins, or as in the case of Covid, MRNA. This is essentially the 2nd step in the process of copying DNA, in which case messenger RNA as transcribed from DNA is fed into cellular machinery to make proteins. This basically uses mrna that is fed into your own cellular machinery to make a specific protein that your immune system will recognize and build antibodies against.
Look, we can rightfully question the safety and efficacy of the covid vaccine. IMO, there isn't enough long term data to confidently say that it is safe. Short term, yes. Long term, unknown. But we need to stop with this nonsense that this is gene therapy, genetic manipulation, etc. It is not, and spreading misinformation doesn't help anybody. This is, in simple terms, using your own cells to manufacture a viral protein that your immune system would then recognize. It's not much different from getting infected with covid, except you're not using your cells to manufacture a live virus. Stop the bullshit and focus on the real issue at hand.
No clue why you got downvoted if everything you said is accurate. People just want to be mad and not understand nuance.
Came here for this. Thanks for saving me the time. Everything you said is correct from an immunological and virological perspective.
Nice to see some based science. Sad that it's not as widespread as it could be. Probably doesn't help that all the "experts" have completely betrayed the field in pursuit of loose covid funding.
I think you hit the nail on the head here. Many doctors and scientists I believe betrayed their own field in pursuit of whatever it is. Be it funding, political gain, or maybe even that they believe in what they are saying. I was thinking back to last February or so, when Fauci said that we should not be masking the population. He was actually using data and making an evidence based recommendation. Data has never supported mass masking. Several weeks later, he reversed course. No new data came out to guide this new recommendation that we are still dealing with a year later. And a year later, there is no evidence that it is helping. And if this was treated as science rather than a religion, perhaps information could come out that it is actually making it worse. I believe there is a decent chance that all of us carrying garbage on our faces for a week at a time is a nidus for infection.
Thanks Doc. We don't always agree, but we can agree on science.
Here's my question, if you care to humor me: what are the chances that the body stops recognizing the spike protein as foreign and in turn stops producing antibodies? This would open the door to a more severe viral infection before the body would react.
As a side note, have you seen the studies with mRNA vaccine trials for mink? All the mink had a negative outcome.
I think the more likely scenario is that simply the spike protein mutates and the antibodies will longer work against it, or at least not work as well. In fact, I think this scenario is guaranteed to happen. For example, there are some versions of the vaccine from various companies that have great efficacy against some of the strains, and poor against others. Whereas other companies do better against the new strains.
I don't think there is a big chance that the spike protein itself stops being recognized as foreign because there is a limited amount of mrna that will generate the protein. Ultimately, the proteins will be removed by the same antibodies, and the antibodies are all that will remain. So the questions become: how long does the immune response last, how durable is it against new strains, how often do you need boosters, how good is the actual protection (I know several who got covid after 1 or both doses of the vaccine). And that doesn't begin to touch on long term safety and side effects, which don't know yet and will not know for several years. I have not taken the vaccine, but the vast majority of my colleagues my department did. I do not advise people against taking the vaccine, but I don't advise them to take it either. I tell them to do their own risk assessment and decide for themselves whether the risk of the virus outweighs the unknowns of the vaccine. But I don't do primary care so patients don't really come to me for advice on vaccinations.
I have not seen the studies for mink so I can't comment on them.
Thank you for the reply.
It’s not a vaccine in the traditional sense. My understanding is that a vaccine using dead/weakened Covid cells would take at least 5 years to develop. People would fucking riot if told we have to lock down, wear masks, etc. for that long. And on top of that, you’d see some experts argue it’s better to let the virus run its course given the long timeframe.
would they really riot? At this point, I think it would be a pretty lukewarm gathering. At least in the DC area.
The American populace has not been told to make such major sacrifices in everyday life since WW2. But here’s the difference, public opinion back then was strongly in favor of the war. Meanwhile, a lot of people have a more take it or leave it attitude on the Chinavirus since well over 99% of those infected survive. If we did nothing and let the virus run its course, the pandemic would effectively be over
June 2020: BLM has entered the chat
well to be fair, it's a new technique in creating a similar response in human immune systems that traditional vaccines used to do. In a way, it is an evolution of vaccines. How we categorize it can be debated., but its goal is the same.
Experimental Gene Therapy Shot