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Comment by anoncake | Hacker News Reader

That's a rumour.

Pretty sure it isn't. Scientists always said it's going to be like the flu. And a a flu shot 10 years ago also has close to zero protection today

Sure it could turn out different, but it seems more likely to be like that as far as I know

No, they never did. Influenza is a family of viruses that mutates extraordinarily fast. Last year's flu vaccine isn't useless because your immune system already forgot how to make the antibodies, but because there are new flu viruses every year.

The RNA vaccines at least specifically target the part of the Covid virus that makes it special compared to other coronaviruses. If that part mutates in a way that invalidates the protection caused by the vaccine, it almost certainly renders the virus harmless anyway.

Even if the protection does expire, there is no reason to believe it happens at flu-like timescales. Of course if by (is that the right preposition btw?) "constant refreshing" you mean every decade or so, that is possible.

There is also empirical evidence by now:

- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01222-5 (protection against variants)

- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03738-2 (lasting immunity)

This is new to me, but I happily give it a go. Thanks for the links

>> Scientists always said it's going to be like the flu

> No, they never did.

Dr. Anthony Fauci: Coronavirus Will Become ‘Seasonal’ Like The Flu https://www.blackenterprise.com/dr-anthony-fauci-coronavirus...

During his guest spot on NBC News’ Meet the Press, Dr. Anthony Fauci, an immunologist who serves as the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and medical advisor to the president, said that virus will become “seasonal.”

Fauci: Coronavirus Vaccine Booster Shots Likely Needed https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-05-26/...

"I don't anticipate that the durability of the vaccine protection is going to be infinite," Fauci told a Senate subcommittee. "It's just not. So I would imagine we will need, at some time, a booster."

Yes, it shares an unrelated property with the flu. "At some time" is not like "every year".

I never said every year, as far as I've read into this I still think it's likely to assume that you won't be protected (well) after 10 years. No idea why you think it's a rumor

You said "like the flu". That means every year.

I never got a flu shot, I was not aware that I was implying a time frame here. Point taken

I don’t think it’s fair to frame their intent that way. “Like” does not mean “exactly”. A period of time on the order of years is fine.

It's how I understood it, and I don't think it's even ambiguous. If you say something is like the flu vaccine that implies you're referring to a property that vaccines in general don't have – you would just have said "vaccine" then. See Griece's maxim of quantity. Not lasting infinitely is such a common property.

It's not what they intended, sure, but that the Covid vaccine has to be refreshed every year or so is what I understood and what they actually said.

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