TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

👍👍 Thank you for adding facts and corrections. There are way too many amateur virologists on social media with half baked theories and misconceptions helping fuel resistance to the vaccine, which is the REAL problem, currently being manifested at our ERs and ICUs (and morgues).

srt101fan

srt101fan

Thank you, David. I always appreciate your rational contributions to these "conversations".

srt101fan

Since I don't know what you read in the Wall Street Journal (an excellent paper!), or how well you understood it, I think I'll just stick with David Martin on this one....🙄

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

The booster (third vaccine) is not an upgrade or improved version. Most vaccines are not changed much, if at all, from the initial ones. The additional injections are of the same substance as the original, it just works to help your body make additional defense against the infection, hence it is called a "booster."

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

According to a study in Kentucky, vaccination after Covid-19 beats natural immunity alone.

Becoming re-infected with Covid-19 was 2.34 times more common in unvaccinated people who had recovered from Covid-19 infection, compared to individuals who had been vaccinated after their recovery from Covid-19.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7032e1.htm?s_cid=mm7032e1_w

Canisdirus

Fact is...the very definition of a vaccine in every dictionary including medical ones...involves a piece of the virus itself. ..or a close relative virus.

Every one...

This is gene therapy...

And there is a LOT of cash and power sloshing around with it.

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Out of date definitions will naturally only include technology in existence at the time the definition was devised. The definition of "airplane" in the 1920s likely did not include jets. But today the definition of "vaccine" includes:
" a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein)"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vaccine#medicalDictionary
It is not gene therapy. "Gene therapy" is defined as "the treatment of certain medical disorders, especially those caused by genetic anomalies or deficiencies, by introducing specific engineered genes into a patient's cells; or any of several therapies involving the insertion of genes into a patient's cells in order to replace defective ones."
Whereas an mRNA vaccine introduces a bit of RNA into the cytoplasm of a cell to give instruction to the cell to produce a protein, but importantly not entering the nucleus, not altering or replacing any genes therefore it is not really "gene therapy."
Of course! It's Big Pharma! But without financial guarantees would they have taken a huge financial risk and mounted an unprecedented campaign to produce a vaccine that may or may not have worked?

Canisdirus

It's an alteration at the cellular level...not at all like an actual vaccine.

Again...this is evidently an engineered virus.

So the question is...engineered to do what? Seems to be highly relevant to the problem...and yet.

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Exactly what is altered at the cellular level?
The mRNA enters the cell but does not enter the nucleus, and provides instructions for the cell to make a protein.
The cell makes a protein, in addition to whatever else it was a doing.
The mRNA disappears within a few days.
The cell then resumes its normal activities.
Nothing has been altered.
Evidently I cannot convince you otherwise.
Perhaps it was. Given that the lab in Wuhan and the lab at UNC were jointly performing gain of function research on coronaviruses, it would seem obvious what the engineering would have been about.

Amielee Loc: Eastern Washington State

Thank you Doctor Martin. A very good and concise rendering of the science involved. Hopefully some of the vaccine deniers will learn something from your offering.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

On one of the multiple threads here and on Face Book I have seen people say something like: "How can the new strains like Delta target unvaccinated people?" News reports say XX% of the hospitalized people and new cases are the unvaccinated.

Duh! It isn't targeting them, it is just there and they get it in larger numbers because they are unvaccinated and/or do not have natural immunity from already having it once and recovering.

For those who don't know better there is no Covid-19 Central Command that "targets" anyone.
Well maybe the Wuhan Lab(s) but that is more "Run wild in the world and make a bunch of people sick."

fetzler Loc: North West PA

I am always amazed by the amateur knowledge expressed in these discussion.

1. The COVID vaccine induces the body produce antibodies to the vitus. This is what all vaccines, and indeed natural immunity from recovering from the disease itself, do.

2. While I encourage most folks to take the vaccine there are some that have medical conditions that preclude vaccination for COVID or other diseases. These folks must be shown respect.

3. The wisdom of vaccination of folks who have recovered from COVID remains questionable and may be the source of some adverse effects. Protection from future mutations and the duration of immunity are uncertain.

4. It appears that adverse effects from the COVID vaccine are more common than for other vaccines. Further study is needed to understand the reasons for the adverse effects.

5. It is odd that the definition of disease has changed in the COVID crisis. In the past a patient would have symptoms then go to a physician who would perform in-office tests and later use confirmatory laboratory tests to determine what disease and the treatment the patient needed. With COVID PCR tests are used for diagnosis even in the absence of symptoms. This is an improper used of the PCR test. A pre-COVID study found that nasal swabs taken from random populations of people contained many disease causing viruses. The folks were,however, not sick. The presence of a virus in the nasal cavity by itself does not indicate disease.

6. There appear to be no studies indicating the effectiveness of cloth or paper masks for the transmission of viral diseases in epidemiology. I have two boxes of the blue "medical" masks that have become popular. Both were acquired pre-COVID. One box says that the masks do not prevent the transmission of viral diseases. The other box says that the masks are not for medical use. The masks in the two boxes are indistinguishable from each other. The latter box also says that the masks will not protect one from inhalation of particles such as asbestos. I don't want to hear from others on this issue. Do what you want. Masks have used across the world in the advance of Totalitarianism, however.

Doc-Texas Loc: Central Texas

Thank you ! I toyed with the idea of responding. You did a great job. Love, Peace, and Science.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

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