4 ms·

Would a partial or half immunized population not end up culturing a more resistant strain?

by fattire 6y ago

elliekelly 6y ago
Or could it end up culturing a more mild strain? More like a common cold?
- eganist 6y ago
  Worth pointing out that two of the viruses[0][1] responsible for the Common Cold share the same exact Family (in fact, the exact Genus[2]) as SARS-CoV-2 [3]. This isn't to say that the progression is certainly in this direction (better evidence of that dates back to 2009 [4]), but hey, there's hope that that's the direction. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_HKU1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_HKU1 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_OC43 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_OC43 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacoronavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacoronavirus [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr... [4] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pandemic-payoff/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pandemic-payoff/
syntheticnature 6y ago
This isn't like antibiotics. The 66% is how many people are provided some level of immunity, just reducing the infectible population; it doesn't directly cause issues for the virus the way an antibiotic interferes with the functioning of a bacterium. It might culture a strain that's better at infecting folks for whom the vaccine doesn't prove effective, if there's a common factor there and the virus can use it. It is not yet known if any of the vaccines completely prevent infection; there are concerns the vaccinated might still be able to be asymptomatic carriers.
- fattire 6y ago
  Yeah I guess I was asking if having only partial-immunity effectively acts as a filter or creates pressure so that rarer mutated strains make it through and are given a pathway to infection/reproduction. From your response: "It might culture a strain that's better at infecting folks for whom the vaccine doesn't prove effective, if there's a common factor there and the virus can use it." it sounds like the answer is yes.
  - syntheticnature 6y ago
    It might make it through, but in that case it would be better adapted for those the vaccine didn't work on; this could actually make it less infectious for those the vaccine would work on, so it's questionable whether it would be any better or worse overall.

Would a partial or half immunized population not end up culturing a more resistant strain?

elliekelly 6y ago

Or could it end up culturing a more mild strain? More like a common cold?

eganist 6y ago
Worth pointing out that two of the viruses[0][1] responsible for the Common Cold share the same exact Family (in fact, the exact Genus[2]) as SARS-CoV-2 [3]. This isn't to say that the progression is certainly in this direction (better evidence of that dates back to 2009 [4]), but hey, there's hope that that's the direction. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_HKU1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_HKU1 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_OC43 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_OC43 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacoronavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacoronavirus [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr... [4] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pandemic-payoff/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pandemic-payoff/

syntheticnature 6y ago

This isn't like antibiotics. The 66% is how many people are provided some level of immunity, just reducing the infectible population; it doesn't directly cause issues for the virus the way an antibiotic interferes with the functioning of a bacterium. It might culture a strain that's better at infecting folks for whom the vaccine doesn't prove effective, if there's a common factor there and the virus can use it. It is not yet known if any of the vaccines completely prevent infection; there are concerns the vaccinated might still be able to be asymptomatic carriers.

fattire 6y ago
Yeah I guess I was asking if having only partial-immunity effectively acts as a filter or creates pressure so that rarer mutated strains make it through and are given a pathway to infection/reproduction. From your response: "It might culture a strain that's better at infecting folks for whom the vaccine doesn't prove effective, if there's a common factor there and the virus can use it." it sounds like the answer is yes.
- syntheticnature 6y ago
  It might make it through, but in that case it would be better adapted for those the vaccine didn't work on; this could actually make it less infectious for those the vaccine would work on, so it's questionable whether it would be any better or worse overall.