[grey413]

Something that following the progress of COVID vaccines really taught me is that vaccines have an important role in reducing the severity of a disease in addition to stopping them outright. I'd much rather get a mild flu than a moderate flu, let alone a severe one.

This seems to be particularly true for fast-acting viral respiratory diseases. Our immune systems seem to have soft biological limits on how well they can prevent them.

[thehappypm]

There’s a population factor and an individual factor. Let’s say it’s half effective. By vaccinating the population, the virus spreads more slowly, since half of people are dead ends. So you wind up with less cases in aggregate — and potentially exponentially less.

[grey413]

Also very true! Blunting logarithmic growth is a huge net positive.

[actuallyalys]

Part of the issue with fast-acting viral respiratory diseases seems to be that vaccines don't induce mucosal immunity: "Currently approved SARS-CoV-2 vaccines induce robust systemic immunity but poor immunity at the respiratory mucosa, meaning that they are highly effective against symptomatic disease but do not prevent viral transmission."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-022-01405-w

[grey413]

That's very interesting. Just goes to show that there's plenty to be learned. Thanks for sharing.