Baldy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 7:47 pm
JohnStOnge wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:36 pm
MMR is three vaccines combined in the same shot. See
https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/v ... a-vaccines. If the "The vaccines" section is not "open" click the arrow to open and see this:
It is a combination vaccine that contains attenuated (weakened) live virus. At the CDC page at
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/ you can see this:
What that means is that the MMR contains attenuated versions of the viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella. All three of them.
A vaccine developed specifically to bolster immune response against measles isn't going to work against mumps or rubella. And a vaccine developed to bolster immune response to influenza virus isn't going to have any effect with respect to bolstering immune response vs. coronavirus. It's not the "flu and coronavirus" vaccination. It's the flu vaccination.
Having said all that I will now concede that Trump's response wasn't as "out there" as I thought. The reason I say that is because it's become apparent to me that a lot fewer people than I thought understand what vaccines are and how they work. I had a Facebook discussion with "friends" and it became clear that a lot of them don't understand how ridiculous it was for Trump to ask if the influenza vaccine would work for coronavirus.
Yes, it's everyone else and not you.
Again: Use the MMR as an example. It contains weakened versions of the viruses that cause measles, mumps and rubella. It prepares the body's immune system for all three of the viruses because it exposes that immune system to versions of all three of them. If it did not contain, for example, the measles virus it would not prepare the body's immune system for measles.
You can read about the flu vaccine at
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm. It is actually also a combination shot but all of the viruses targeted by the combination are influenza viruses. As you can see, the idea is to use either killed influenza viruses, proteins from target influenza viruses, or live weakened influenza viruses (see "Can a flu vaccine give men the flu" section).
You can also find a section about how the effectiveness of the flu vaccines administered each year depends on how well they anticipate which influenza viruses to target (see "Vaccine Match" section). That section gives you an idea as to how important it is that the viral materials introduced to the immune system via the vaccine or vaccines match the viruses invading the body. There is no WAY a vaccine composed of influenza virus materials is going to have any effect on immunity to a totally different family of viruses (coronavirus).
However, as I wrote earlier, I did completely over estimate how widespread the understanding of what vaccines are and how they basically works is. When I saw video of Trump asking that question I cringed and thought, "What a STUPID question." But in discussing it with people I was surprised to see how many people thought it could be like one medication being used to treat different diseases. Like one antibiotic being used to address two different bacterial diseases or one anti viral agent being used to address two different viral diseases AFTER the body is infected.