cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40537048
“The measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection,” - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
If only there was another proven way of doing this without the risk of serious complications of getting sick.
What an insane thing to say.
Well that sort of is what a vaccine is…
No.
Fascinating, I get downvoted a lot, ok, I can see that this might not have been the best joke, that is fine, but apparently I am factually wrong as well, though no one could be bothered to tell me why.
The measle vaccine injects a very weakened version of the measle virus. The point is that the body doesn’t like these body-foreign entities and thus tries to destroy them, getting “trained” to do the same when a real measles virus enters your body.
Since the weakened measles virus most likely doesn’t reproduce, you don’t really have the measles (the disease).
Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor.
Well that is a matter of definition, I consider breaking a finger and breaking a leg to both mean that you have broken a bone.
Your body still fights the measle virus, you are still infected with it, even if it is a lesswr variant.
If someone threw the dead body of a robber into a store, would you also call that store being robbed?
No, no it isn’t. If you aren’t just being a snarky bastard and want the difference explained, ask.
Ok, I get it, wrong place for a joke, though the general concept of a vaccine is to infect you with a weak/dead version of the agent causing the infection causing the body to learn how to fight the real thing.
mRNA vaccines do differ in that they send in building blocks for the body to produce the weak strain itself.