December 7, 2021
Comparing Vaccines
By
Michael Applebaum, M.D.
So, how do the COVID vaccines (grouped together for this piece) compare to other vaccines?
I’ll tell you. But first, I gotta disclaim:
1. Yes. I am a medical doctor.
2. No. I am not
your doctor.
3. No. I am not providing you medical advice.
4. Yes. I do not know you.
5. What you choose to do re: the COVID vaccine is a choice made among (you) + (your physician) + (whomever else you decide to include) +/- (government/employer mandates). I am completely out of it as far as your health care choices are concerned.
As always, it is important to define our terms. For example, when I say “chair,” you may conjure an image very different from the one I do.
When it comes to vaccines, vaccinations and immunity/immunization the definitions depend on the
year.
According to the CDC:
In
2012:
Immunization: The process by which a person or animal becomes protected against a disease. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.
Vaccination: Injection of a killed or weakened infectious organism in order to prevent the disease.
Vaccine: A product that produces immunity therefore protecting the body from the disease. Vaccines are administered through needle injections, by mouth and by aerosol.
In
2015:
Immunity: Protection from an infectious disease. If you are immune to a disease, you can be exposed to it without becoming infected.
Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.
Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.
Immunization: A process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.
In
August, 2021:
Immunity: Protection from an infectious disease. If you are immune to a disease, you can be exposed to it without becoming infected.
Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.
Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.
Immunization: A process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.
In
September, 2021:
Immunity: Protection from an infectious disease. If you are immune to a disease, you can be exposed to it without becoming infected.
Vaccine: A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but some can be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.
Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease.
Immunization: A process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.
Over time, about 9 years, a vaccine has gone from preventing illness to-protecting from illness to producing immunity to stimulating the body’s immune response against diseases.
The definition of vaccine seems, arguably, on the same trajectory as
meritocracy.
Next up – vaccines will get participation trophies.
Some of you may be aware, the powers-that-be are suggesting boosters and/or an additional dose. The two are
not the same (emphasis in the original).
A COVID-19 booster is given when a person has completed their vaccine series, and protection against the virus has decreased over time.
An additional dose is administered to people with moderately to severely compromised immune systems. This additional dose is intended to improve immunocompromised people’s response to their initial vaccine series.
This issue of protection against the virus decreasing over time, though not a unique characteristic of the COVID vaccines, is distinguishable in some ways from other vaccines.
As examples, tetanus and diphtheria vaccines take “over 40 years for protective immunity to be lost,” while for immunity to measles and rubella have a decay rate of “only 1% to 2% of the population losing protective immunity per decade.” “For vaccinia, just over 60% of the population have protective levels of antibodies at the outset (year 0), and this has dropped to 40% after 100 years—which corresponds to about 3% of the population losing protective immunity per decade.”
The period of protection conferred by the COVID vaccine is of hugely shorter duration than other vaccines.