Lobster wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:32 pm
You all can take the vaccine if you want, but you may be rolling the dice with your health. It won't protect you against future strains of covid. Covid mutates and you would need to be vaccinated every year. No thanks. I don't take flu vaccines and I almost never get the flu.
This isn't necessarily true. All of the approved vaccines target the spike glycoprotein on the surface of the virus. This was chosen because the spike proteins are highly immunogenic and since it is necessary for attachment to and entry into the cell antibodies that target the spike protein are protective. The mutations in the British strain and in the B117 strain that make them more infectious occurred in the spike glycoprotein, but the vaccines still confer protection in spite of those changes.
All organisms undergo mutations, viruses have them at a higher rate than others, and RNA viruses have an even higher rate. SARS-Cov-2 is an RNA virus, but its RNA polymerase protein has exonuclease activity that gives it some level of "proofreading" and as a result, it has a mutation rate about 1/2 of what is seen in influenza. But even if, over time the virus mutates enough to overcome the immunity, it's better to have some level of protection than nothing.
It is possible that the current vaccines won't be the last vaccines we need to get against this coronavirus. But, that was true of lots of vaccines, they improved upon the polio vaccine for example. And lots of live attenuated vaccines are now component vaccines. Also, there are other proteins, the membrane protein and envelope protein that are highly conserved in all Coronaviruses (SARS, MERS, SARS-Cov-2) meaning that mutations in these proteins are more deleterious to the virus, and therefore are not observed naturally. They weren't initially chosen because they aren't as immunogenic and may not offer the same level of protection. But it's possible that coupling these proteins along with the Spike Glycoprotein and possibly other epitopes, that you get a vaccine that is highly protective for a long time and if done correctly, may provide resistance against multiple corona viruses, or even future ones. Also, lots of vaccines require boosters, but I guess Lobster would rather die an excruciatingly painful death from tetanus rather than be inconvenienced to have to get a shot every 10 years.
Lobster wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:32 pmThere are better and safer ways to protect yourself against viruses.
This just isn't true. Vaccines are among the greatest success stories in all of medicine...really, in all of science. Rabies was 100% fatal, 1 or 2 people in the US die per year of rabies. Smallpox has been eradicated. Polio has been nearly eradicated and in fact one of the 3 strains has been eradicated. Not to mention all the other diseases we can avoid by vaccine. Viruses are very hard to treat, much harder than bacteria in most cases.
Lobster wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:32 pmAbout 3% of people who take the vaccine have dangerous reactions, which is higher than the amount of people who die from covid. Want to roll the dice and end up like her?
You're seriously comparing non-lethal reactions to a vaccine to death. No one has died from the vaccine and more than 2,100,000 people have died from the virus. So, yeah, the odds are on the side of getting vaccinated. And that doesn't even address the long term effects of the virus, the organ damage, the Covid long haulers, the people who live but had to be on a ventilator, the people who lost their sense of smell and taste....on and on. And we really don't know what the long term effects of Covid will be, but there are strong indications that long term effects are going to be an issue, and this is incredibly common among viral diseases. On the other hand, while these mRNA vaccines are new, there is no vaccine that has been used that gives any type of long term ailments.
And finally, you don't just get a vaccine for yourself. You also do it to prevent the spread, to protect those who are most vulnerable and those who can't get vaccinated. These vaccines offer 90% protection....if you are someone who's in a high risk group, that 10% could be pretty scary, but if EVERYONE has 90% protection, the risk of contracting it goes down significantly. I'm willing to have a sore arm and mild fever if it saves someone's grandma from an early death.
I only came to kick some ass...
Rock the fucking house and kick some ass.
