07-26-2021, 02:57 PM
(07-26-2021, 10:23 AM)Big_Ern Wrote: You just made my original point. I said they won't eradicate covid-19 like they don't for the flu or colds. Not sure why you had to jump in
You original point was we will never have herd immunity to Covid 19 because we don't have herd immunity to colds or flu. You changed tack to eradication after it was explained you're comparison was apples to oranges.
There are over 200 different viruses that cause colds in humans and they don't kill 600K Americans in a year. Since adults typically get 2-3 colds per year it would take over 200 colds and close to 100 years for the average adult to develop acquired immunity through infection to all those viruses. Or they would need to get over 200 different vaccines for the different viruses that cause colds. Because of mutations, by they time you did get immunity to all those viruses at least one virus would have probably mutated decreasing your immunity or rendering it ineffective.
Versus hundreds of coronaviruses that mostly affect animals. There are only seven coronaviruses that cause disease in humans. Four cause mild to moderate cold like symptoms. Three cause mild to life threatening infections; SARS, MERS, and Covid 19. The SARS virus disappeared in 2004. MERS occasionally causes sporadic outbreaks. So were talking about a specific vaccine for a specific virus that has killed 600K Americans in a year. We can achieve herd immunity against one virus that causes one infectious disease in humans if people are compliant with the current medical recommendations.
Throughout the course of human history, we have only "eradicated" two viruses through vaccination programs; smallpox in humans and rinderpest in cattle. And yet we still recommend vaccinations because they reduce morbidity and mortality in humans even though we know vaccinations in humans won't eradicate viruses in the animal kingdom that currently don't cause disease in humans. I never claimed we would eradicate all coronaviruses.
As they say in the military, attention to detail.
