Previous vaccines and masks may hold down Covid-19

[reader]

From CNN

As US leaders work to control the spread of coronavirus, researchers across the country -- and globe -- are working to answer the mysteries that remain around infections.

One of those mysteries: why the experience can be so different from person to person. One expert says the answer may involve looking at previous vaccines individuals have had.

"When we looked in the setting of Covid disease, we found that people who had prior vaccinations with a variety of vaccines -- for pneumococcus, influenza, hepatitis and others -- appeared to have a lower risk of getting Covid disease," Dr. Andrew Badley, an infectious disease specialist at Mayo Clinic told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday night.

 

It's what immunologists call immune training: how your immune system creates an effective response to fight off infections, Badley says.

 

"A good analogy is to think of your immune system as being a muscle," he said. "The more you exercise that muscle, the stronger it will be when you need it."

There's been no definitive evidence of any other vaccines boosting immunity against Covid-19. But some researchers have suggested it's possible.

 

In June, a team of researchers in the US proposed giving a booster dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to people to see if it helps prevent the most severe effects of coronavirus infections. And last month, researchers found that countries where many people have been given the tuberculosis vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) had less mortality from coronavirus, a finding that fits with other research suggesting the vaccine can boost people's immunity in general.

 

But once you're infected, how much of the virus made it into your body could also have an impact on what your experience is, another expert told CNN on Monday.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at University of California, San Francisco, has been working with a team of researchers to understand how more people could go through their infections with minimal or no symptoms. About 40% of people infected with the virus don't have symptoms, according to an estimate last month by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Gandhi's team found masks make a difference.

 

"What the mask does is really reduce the amount of virus that you get in, if you do get infected," she said. "And by reducing that ... you have a lower dose, you're able to manage it, you're able to have a calm response and you have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all."

[vinapu]

that's encouraging but all that is missing an answer to one urgent question : "When we will be able to get out passport stamped at Swampy ? "

[reader]

You can get it stamped now: REJECTED.

[Guest]

The concept that having a variety of vaccines "trains" your immune system is one which could be correct.  I'm no expert, but it seems kind of logical.

However, I very much doubt the old BCG story, which has been going around for a few months now.   That vaccine was to be used in a variety of countries, including the UK.   I've had it.  Almost everyone in the age ranges with higher death rates in the UK will have had this vaccine when they are in school.  

However, last time I looked, the UK had the second highest death rate per capita in Europe, after Belgium (excluding very small countries, like San Marino).