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phonetastic t1_j9w761t wrote

Reply to comment by Doc_Lewis in Does the common flu vaccine offer any buffer against H5N1 (Bird Flu)? by Esc_ape_artist

Dead on. Since I know a lot of people who don't speak Science come here to learn, let me phrase it for them, too:

It likely has some effect, but specifically it is not targeted to the H5N1 influenza A virus.

The way vaccines work is by teaching your immune cells to target specific proteins on a virus (viruses are made up of many, many proteins, just like you and me). Now, different proteins have different shapes, so it's important for the vaccine to have the right counter-shape. Think of puzzle pieces. Anyway, if there's enough similarity in the proteins between HxNz and HyNw, then yeah, it'll do something, but it won't be perfect. Otherwise it'll do nothing at all.

Because they are all kinda similar, it probably does something, but not enough to really help. Part of the problem is that if you don't kill enough mean little microbes, it just doesn't matter. Going to Australia and shooting fifteen rabbits is not going to reduce the need for a rabbit-proof fence, right? So you gotta do better or you should've just stayed home.

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amestrianphilosopher t1_j9xex6m wrote

Why does it only “do something”? It feels like it should be black and white, like “it has this protein, therefore I’m somewhat protected against it”. Like, how much of the protein has to change in order for it to not be effective?

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liamisabossss t1_j9xnk1v wrote

Think of it like fighting fire with water. If you have a long thin line of leaves and start a fire at one end, and you have simply a small hose or a water gun, you can stop that fire. Now imagine a house catching fire. You have the same hose as before, and water fights fire so it should at least help right? You might be technically reducing the total amount of flames on the house with the little hose, it’s measurable, but if you’re not blasting it with enough water, it’s just going to keep growing. You need enough protection to actually combat the totality of the situation.

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Dr_Vesuvius t1_j9xmptp wrote

Disease isn’t black and white. The extreme options are “you don’t feel sick” and “you die”. There are a whole spectrum of options between those two.

A vaccine that is providing a lot of protection will dramatically reduce your symptoms, and might stop you feeling sick at all.

A vaccine that is providing some protection might cause you to be sick for 50 hours instead of 52 hours, and be in slightly less pain during that time.

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phonetastic t1_j9y0425 wrote

All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. And parallelograms are kinda rectangles, but not. Think of a door when you're building a house. A one-degree shift in the angles on the door might still fit the frame. A ten degree shift won't at all. Seems small, but it's functionally massive.

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