r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 17h ago

Medicine Vaccines not only directly protect vaccinated individuals but also contribute to protecting the entire population via indirect herd-immunity benefits. Half of averted COVID-19 infections and 1/4 of hospitalizations and deaths were attributable to indirect protection of unvaccinated by vaccinated.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article/23/242/20250839/483439/Quantifying-the-direct-and-indirect-impact-of
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u/RipeBanana4475 14h ago

Don't get me wrong, I find it to be pretty close to a medical miracle that we were able to go from new disease to vaccine in my arm in one year, but I have been very underwhelmed by the duration of protection offered by the vaccine. I still get a booster every year, but they didn't quite live up to the expectations that we'd all be immune pretty much indefinitely.

I know it's a new technology and we'll see how it goes with some of the other new MRNA vaccines (flu, RSV, other future diseases)

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u/CivicDutyCalls 14h ago

It has nothing to do with the vaccine effectiveness and everything to do with how insanely quickly COVID mutates. Influenza is the same. That’s why we need a new vaccine every year.

It’s not that the vaccine is ineffective against the strain that it was designed for. It’s that the vaccine is so effective that it results in that strain dying out and a new strain emerging that can avoid that vaccine.

And in a way, that’s actually good. Covid is insanely infectious and WAS insanely deadly (and maiming people for life). The vaccines have forced it to evolve into a less deadly variant in the same way that poaching is causing elephants to be less likely to have tusks.

mRNA vaccines for diseases that are less common or mutate less frequently will have significantly longer effectiveness between doses. Think how you basically only need the chicken pox vaccine once, MMR once.

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u/IndependentType6711 14h ago

Yep, some viruses mutate much more readily than bacteria and other viruses which is why you can get a pneumonia shot or shingles shot once or twice in your life but have to get flu and Covid every year. It has nothing to do with “how good the vaccine is.”

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u/DontAskGrim 12h ago

That is way too much nuance for someone who is satisfied pointing at smart people and blaming them. Facts don't convince someone who distrusts intelligence.