Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

l3lindsite t1_j24bxxu wrote

Reply to comment by Crazy-Delay-5149 in Did the same strand of virus cause spanish flu and swine flu? if no then how are they different by manwithsillymustache

>For example, usually yearly vaccines contain a couple of A strains and a B strain, whatever was most prevalent in the other hemisphere 6 months ago.

This bit of vaccine logic has never made sense to me given the speed of flu virus mutation. I mean you can get over the flu in a couple of weeks but then soon after pick up a brand new mutated strain. But it takes 6 months to pump out a vaccine for one set of strains that odds are are obsolete by now and one's body is already immune to through natural exposure?

I mean I understand what you're saying that there are virus sets in the vaccine one wouldn't necessarily run into but still. 6 months seems to be an awfully long lag time compared to the flu's mutatuon rate and even human natural immune response and adaption rate. So yeah this particular bit of logic never made sense.

But please if you have a sensible counter argument for why someone with a functioning immune system should bother then I'm listening.

Why this is relevant is your above explaination seemed to take yearly flu innoculation for granted.

1

Crazy-Delay-5149 t1_j2cv9j1 wrote

The idea behind using those strains is that 1. We can't really do better, 2. Even though these strains are going to mutate before those 6 months, it is unlikely that all of the virus' proteins will mutate so drastically that all the antibodies we've made against the vaccine will be useless. After all, it only takes one good antibody for your body to be able to fight.

That being said, I agree that you don't need the vaccine if you have a fully functioning immune system. Idk elsewhere but in my country the vaccine is only recommended for people with weak immune system (elderly, auto immune disease etc).

The only reason you'd want to vaccinate even though you're not part of these groups of people is to protect the ones you know. That's why health workers have to get the vaccine, and you may want to get it if you're in contact with immuno-weak people (grandparents, newborn...). Not to protect yourself but to protect them.

Edit to add: some years, people who pick which strains to put in the vaccine simply get it wrong, we get a completely different strain in the winter and the vaccine is basically useless 😬 I remember that happened a few years ago

1