Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nradov 2121 days ago
Reinfections aren't a serious concern. Symptoms tend to be much less severe the second time due to the actions of immune system memory cells. SARS-CoV-2 is just like every other coronavirus in that regard. For example see the natural history of the OC43 coronavirus.
1 comments

> Reinfections aren't a serious concern

They are, because reinfected people can infect people that have not had corona before and it makes vaccine success rates lower (similar to the seasonal flu).

In the essence it will lead to yet another attempt of "herd immunity" and a shitload of deaths.

Experts and health officials were already expecting vaccines to be only 50-75% effective, so this isn't new information.

That's what's so frustrating to me about the "herd immunity" discourse. Health officials have consistently said there's no way the disease is going to be eradicated, but because of the way it gets discussed, a lot of smart people have become convinced that the goal of a vaccine is to make sure nobody catches it.