health

Scientists looking at old vaccines for other germs to protect against COVID-19

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By LAURAN NEERGAARD

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There is a good rationale for this to work, the body reacts against a fake infection just before getting a real one, specific antibodies are not produced against the coronavirus but all other parts of the reaction are still useful, and in theory that jump-start can make the difference between a slight cold or a visit to the ICU.

Still, the responsible thing to do is to test if this theory is actually true or not, books on the history of science are full of examples of things that were supposed to work, but didn't. It is understandable that people will try to get anything that seems like an advantage against the infection, but before careful testing this could even act against the protection, it is not unheard that a very strong immune reaction is actually worse than a slow, weak one.

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I get the rationale, but the likelihood of success is not great....worth the effort, but don't bet the farm on coming up with a cure. There are no peer-reviewed, clinically proven examples of success with this line of research.

The article mentions oral polio vaccine as having been seen to help fight off the flu. From my own experience, I think not. I (and many others at that time) was given an oral polio vaccine while in the service, and I have since had the flu many times. If the polio vaccine actually did help me to have fewer bouts of the flu, I would hate to think how often I would have gotten the flu without the vaccine.

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