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Comment by grawprog | Hacker News Reader

Meh

My understanding, although I am not a doctor, is that it boosts your immunity to the virus itself because they inject you with a active (but very weakened) version of the virus. That way when your immune system is depressed, its response is still much better than it would have been otherwise. More antibodies produced, less chance the dormant virus can reactivate. Really interesting, honestly.

It's more complicated, there are many variants. Some use a live weakened version of the virus/bacteria. Some use a dead versions. Some use only a small part of the surface of the virus/bacteria that is enough to be recognized. (The last is similar to the approach in this vaccine.)

[In some old vaccines, they used a somewhat related similar virus/bacteria that was close enough to make you get the immunity, but not to cause the illness. I'm not sure if this method is used still today.]

I imagined it was more complicated, I was just giving it the layman 10,000 foot overview.

Why do you find the flu shot questionable based upon something you learned, incorrectly, high school? Read the CDC report on the flu vaccine[1].

Your "theory" on shingles is inaccurate. The chickenpox virus can go dormant and resurface as shingles. Read the Mayo Clinic's overview.[2]

Basically, you are entirely wrong and are spreading inaccurate information, stop it.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-benefits.htm [2] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/shingles/symp...

The flu vaccine is formulated each year to match the predicted strains expected to cause most human suffering that year. Influenza has a segmented RNA genome that makes it more likely to mutate and change its antigen expression. The flu vaccine saves a significant number of lives each year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza#Replication https://www.cdc.gov/flu/news/flu-vaccine-saved-lives.htm

The shingles vaccine bolsters immunity towards the chicken pox virus so that even when depressed your immune system has enough T-cells against the virus that it does not reactivate. Shingrex is 97% effective at preventing shingles.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25916341

The flu vaccine is important to get.

* Every year the vaccine is updated to match the new mutation which is why you need to get one every year.

* Some years the vaccine is not fully protective, but it will still reduce the severity and duration. This could mean the difference between life and death for at-risk populations: old, young, immune-comprised.

* If enough people get it, it provides herd immunity for people who can't take it such as babies less than 6 months.

I know someone with a child who has an immune condition who can't get the flu vaccine. The father didn't think he needed to get it because he didn't think the flu was that big of a deal, and it's not for most healthy people. Well he gets the flu, gives it to his son, and the son ends up in the ICU. Thankfully the son survived. The father now always gets the flu shot.

I've never seen the shingles vaccine marketed towards people who had chicken pox, just the opposite. On my vaccinations forms, I always saw a checkmark for the shingles vaccine that said something along the lines of "had chicken pox", which was essentially an exception.

What? Shingles is caused by the virus that causes chickenpox, which lays dormant in your body after you have had chickenpox. So you should especially get the shingles vaccine if you have had chickenpox.

Yeah, that's my problem. Vaccines are oversold, so to speak. Everyone has a story about getting the flu immediately after getting the shot.

My big thing is safety and accountability. Currently, if a vaccine is harmful, the company that makes it has no liability, /and/ there's no control/test testing. The only way they're tested is by giving people the same shot with and without the viral component.

Problem is, saying anything that makes vaccines not sound like unicorn blood makes you one of "them", and you obviously want everyone to die of polio.

People do sometimes get sick with mild symptoms for a day or so after receiving the flu shot, but is nothing compared to the actual flu.

Yeah, last year was the first time I had symptoms from the shot. As someone who actually has had the flu, it felt like the final few days of the real flu, after the fever has broken, the worst is over and you are finally better and on the upswing.

>Yeah, that's my problem. Vaccines are oversold, so to speak. Everyone has a story about getting the flu immediately after getting the shot.

No, it's because the average person has no idea what they are talking about and do primitive correlation.

After a flu shot you can very well feel unwell as your immune system ramps up to eliminate the inactive virus. The real flu is actually nasty. Most people just have colds and never experience full blown flu until they finally do and regret.

The flu is far more common than you're starting though. That the cold is even more so doesn't mean that most people don't know what getting a flu is like.

Do you have specific examples of a vaccine manufacturer causing harm and escaping accountability?

Also, how would you do control testing for vaccines?

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/index.html

This exists because of a bill sheltering vaccine manufacturers from all liability.

As for control testing, you give some people a saline solution, others the shot, and others the shot with no virus. Put the issue to rest.

Again, what the heck. I'm answering the question.

Do you have any specific examples? I know why vaccine compensation exists, and it's not to hide wrongdoing.

Wait, why do you need the third group (saline solution) as part of the control?

Here's a list of cases. https://www.mctlaw.com/vaccine-injury/cases/

The saline is to rule out effects from the preservatives and adjuvants used. The viral component of vaccines isn't what anti-vaxxers usually worry about.

Those cases seem to be "had bad reaction, using system", do you have any evidence of wrongdoing that isn't tied to "shit sometimes happens when you vaccinate"?

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