**Note**: I just got my Flu and COVID-19 shot, so I’m not anti-vax, just curious to know more from people who are better educated on vaccines than I am.
I understand that it’s important for our immune systems to be exposed to viruses in order to build immunity, but why is it that diseases like Polio, Measles, Mumps, and Smallpox are basically nonexistent (save for random outbreaks) while thousands of people will get colds and flus each year and the best we can do is get a flu shot, wash our hands, mask in public spaces and hope you don’t come into contact with someone who’s sick? Could it ever be possible to make a vaccine that completely prevents people from getting colds or flus?
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So the problem is, the cold and the flu are actually lots of different illnesses that feel the same to us. But they’re caused by different pathogens. There are literally 100s of different cold viruses. So we could try and cure one cold virus, but while we’re wasting time do that, the other hundreds of cold viruses are replicating and mutating and creating even more new types! So the more efficient thing to do, in the end, is actually to try and decrease exposure so that there’s less chance of mutating into a new type, and spend our research resources on diseases that are less common and much more deadly.
That’s another important principle to keep in mind: in general (not always, but usually), the more common an infectious disease is, the less bad it is. The more deadly, the less common. This is because if a disease makes you so sick you’re confined to bed and don’t see anyone, or just kills you, you don’t have the opportunity to spread it to other people. Meanwhile people continue their normal days coming into contact with hundreds of people with a cold. This means that the cold and flu just aren’t major medical priorities compared to other diseases.
The viruses that cause colds and flue have quite an unstable genetic makeup, and are prone to mutation, such that they are constantly changing.
This means that after some time, new strains of cold and flu are being passed round, you don’t have immunity, and you catch the infection.
It is therefore not really possible to create a generic cold vaccine. Sure, it will stop you getting that strain of the cold, but not the next strain.
Imagine your immune system uses facial recognition to turn away pathogens. Things like polio, mumps, dengue etc. don’t get allowed entry because it recognizes those faces as threats and security doesn’t allow them in.
Now imagine influenza (H and N proteins) and covid are able to change their face pretty quickly so every time they come back they fool the facial recognition software into letting them in.
Essentially because the common cold is not caused by a single virus.
It’s a whole bunch of different viruses that just happen to infect the same parts of the body and result in the same symptoms – runny nose, sore throat, coughing and wheezing, fatigue, etc.
Some of them are different classes of type of viruses. Some of the viruses work in different ways, target different receptors, or trigger different responses in the body. This makes it difficult to find a One Size Fits All type of cure – any attempt at a ‘cure’ would probably need multiple vaccines or many different medications taken at the same time as a sort of “Whack A Mole” type strategy to cover all possible bases.
The reality is, the common cold is annoying but not dangerous for the overwhelming majority of people. You’re sick for a few days and then you get better. So it’s more practical to simply manage the symptoms, focus on getting rest and keeping up your fluid intake, and let the disease naturally run its course.
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