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by ProcNetDev 2142 days ago
Some people want to start giving out Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) because it kicks the immune system into action. It is very safe, if you have already had a polio vaccine. I believe it has been shown that OPV reduced seasonal flu in areas where it was distributed.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6496/1187

2 comments

Your link refers to the following clinical trials for BCG, running since March:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04327206

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04328441

It seems there are no current clinical trials for OPV, just that author arguing that such trial could be started (first time in April).

BTW, looking at how polio manifested, it really is a good example about what viruses are able to do, and why only counting "dead" (as in CFR or whatever) misses the point:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/covid-19-is-threaten...

"Polio often destroyed nerve cells that controlled muscles, leaving some with paralyzed limbs or lungs."

Most vaccines come with an 'adjuvant' [1] that activates the immune system in order to encourage the development of antibodies.

Sometimes these are chunks of toxins that your body recognizes a toxic, but without the actual part of the toxin that causes the toxicity. A kind of flag but without the army behind it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjuvant