Opinion: Vaccines are a tool, not a silver bullet(theglobeandmail.com) |
Opinion: Vaccines are a tool, not a silver bullet(theglobeandmail.com) |
Have we abandoned the idea of a covid vaccine, in the classical sense, ie one that renders the recipient immune to covid? We got mRNA vaccine, they didn't stop covid, and we started talking about preventing hospitalization and severe infection and everything else. Did we just give up one the idea that it's possible to make a better vaccine for it that stops it? The article is right that mRNA vaccines are not a "sliver bullet" but does that mean a silver bullet is impossible, or that we need to try something else?
I hope that after this wave, we will manage covid-19 like the flu, i.e. a deadly illness for the very old and other risk groups, but most of the people have a general level of immunity to avoid a health system collapse. Perhaps add an anual shot for risk groups, for covid-19 and other similar virus, just like we have an annual shot for the flu.
About your first question, take a look at the history of the polio vaccine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_vaccine#History Note that there are at least two versions. The first one does not cut the spread of the illness, but you avoid the bad cases. The second one cut the transmission, but it has a live attenuated virus that may escape. So ... there is a strange tradeoff, and each country uses a different combinación according to the general level of immunization and when was the last cases in the nearby countries.
As far as having to stay home, I'd stay home if I had the flu too. It's just courtesy.