cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40537048
“The measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection,” - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
If only there was another proven way of doing this without the risk of serious complications of getting sick.
What an insane thing to say.
Well that sort of is what a vaccine is…
No.
Fascinating, I get downvoted a lot, ok, I can see that this might not have been the best joke, that is fine, but apparently I am factually wrong as well, though no one could be bothered to tell me why.
The measle vaccine injects a very weakened version of the measle virus. The point is that the body doesn’t like these body-foreign entities and thus tries to destroy them, getting “trained” to do the same when a real measles virus enters your body.
Since the weakened measles virus most likely doesn’t reproduce, you don’t really have the measles (the disease).
Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor.
