If you test positive or already have COVID

[Boogiemack]

Will the vaccine kill it or help to get rid of it and prevent harsh symptoms?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Vaccines prevent diseases, they aren't intended to treat or cure them -

so probably not, any more than the seasonal flu vaccine cures the flu if you already have it.

[Arne]

3. Contracting the Virus may give you the antibodies but

side effects are low oxygen and death.

If Moderna produces their room temperature single dose vac,
that is what I will want.

[MineralMan]

2. No. Vaccines merely train the immune system to quickly

ramp up antibody production at the beginning of the infection. If you are already infected, your body is already making antibodies to fight the illness. The problem is that at the beginning of the infection, your body was not prepared to make adequate numbers of antibodies to prevent a severe illness from the virus.

The goal of the vaccine is to give your body's immune system a head start, by teaching it to produce the antibodies that will be needed. Then, if you are exposed to the coronavirus, the immune system can respond immediately to prevent or lessen the severity of the illness.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. So I take it that the antibodies already in your body (if you were previously exposed to

the CV) won't destroy the antibodies injected into your body from the vaccine, or vice versa?

[MineralMan]

7. No. The vaccine contains no antibodies.

Last edited Fri Dec 4, 2020, 03:52 PM - Edit history (1)

It contains the spike protein associated with the virus. That protein can't cause the disease. It is a foreign chemical that stimulates your immune system to make antibodies to that protein. The immune system responds to what enters the body as a way to protect you from foreign viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other disease-causing things.

The vaccine stimulates your immune system by challenging it with protein that is in the spikes of the virus. Until the immune system encounters the foreign protein, it has no reason to create antibodies to it.

It takes the immune system days or weeks to learn to make the right antibodies. If you catch the coronavirus, the immune system will respond to it, but the response may be too late to prevent a severe illness. Vaccines give the immune system time to learn about the foreign protein and make antibodies without the risk of the disease.

That's how vaccines work and why they protect us.

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Thank you so much. This clarifies a lot of questions I had in my mind about these things.

Amazing that under a year ago, such questions and issues certainly weren't on my list of things to ask/inquire about. How times have changed so much in under a year. Be safe and thanks so much again!

[crickets]

13. That's a very clear explanation, thanks.

It helps, even if you feel like you have a general idea of how vaccines work, to see a good overview of information like this. The more information we all have, the better.

[NurseJackie]

17. When you describe it THAT way... it makes the anti-vaxxers look even more FOOLISH...

When you describe it THAT way... it makes the anti-vaxxers look even more FOOLISH and RECKLESS than before. It's really not a difficult concept to comprehend. Thanks for your very concise and eloquent post!

Quoting your post in full so that I can add it to my DU journal.

No. The vaccine contains no antibodies.

View profile
It contains the spike protein associated with the virus. That protein can't cause the disease. It is a foreign chemical that stimulates your immune system to make antibodies to that protein. The immune system responds to what enters the body as a way to protect you from foreign viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other disease-causing things.

The vaccine stimulates your immune system by challenging it with protein that is in the spikes of the virus. Until the immune system encounters the foreign protein, it has no reason to create antibodies to it.

It takes the immune system days or weeks to learn to make the right antibodies. If you catch the coronavirus, the immune system will respond to it, but the response may be too late to prevent a severe illness. Vaccines give the immune system time to learn about the foreign protein and make antibodies without the risk of the disease.

That's how vaccines work and why they protect us.

[MineralMan]

18. Thanks. I am deeply offended by anti-vaxxers who don't even

know the basics of vaccines. It's incredibly frustrating, since the information is so readily availablem

[Demsrule86]

4. Those who got the Moderna vaccine the few that went on to get covid...none of them had

the worst covid illness.

[Mike 03]

10. I'm really interested in the Moderna vaccine. Just saw an article today saying

that antibodies from that vaccine last at least 3 months, maybe longer.

I wish it was a one-dose vaccine. I incorrectly heard a few months ago that it would be, but it's not.

[Demsrule86]

11. I will take whatever is available but I would choose the Moderna vaccine if I had a choice.

[moonscape]

14. Curious why? n/t

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. I believe the correct answer to your question is: We don't yet know.

Remember this is a novel coronavirus and we will not truly know until mass post-vaccination data is assembled.

What's true of other vaccines such as that for the flu may not apply.

KY

[Baclava]

12. I think its amazing they came up with ANY vaccine this quickly, thats new too

[Drahthaardogs]

9. That is a really interesting question

And since COVID has a long incubation period, it might be of benefit.

[Meowmee]

15. No

As far as I know, rabies is the only virus that you can vaccinate for after exposure due to a long incubation period. But it is best to vaccinate within 48 hours of exposure for rabies, two weeks at the most and if there is a wound exposure it should be cleansed deeply with water and disinfected for at least 20 minutes. Another treatment given for rabies bite exposures is to inject the wound with rabies immune globulin in addition to the vaccine which is a series of shots. It is possible covid may turn out to be different as well, we don’t know yet. Rabies incubation can be as long as a year but is usually shorter and it has been documented in rare cases to be several years after exposure as well.

In addition, the vaccine is sometimes used to treat rabies patients who come in with symptoms when it has reached the central nervous symptom. There is a debate whether it helps or makes the situation worse by causing an overreaction in some patients. Only 7 known patients have survived rabies worldwide who did not receive vaccination before symptoms started. A new protocol of induced coma and antiviral treatments may have saved 2 of the patients.

[womanofthehills]

19. Good rabies news from CDC - only 1 to 3 cases of human rabies a year in US

Human Rabies

Cases of human rabies cases in the United States are rare, with only 1 to 3 cases reported annually. Twenty-five cases of human rabies have been reported in the United States in the past decade (2009-2018). Seven of these infections were acquired outside of the U.S. and its territories.

The number of human rabies deaths in the United States has been steadily declining since the 1970’s thanks to animal control and vaccination programs, successful outreach programs, public health capacity and laboratory diagnostics, and the availability of modern rabies biologics. Yet each year, hundreds of thousands of animals need to be placed under observation or be tested for rabies, and between 30,000 to 60,000 people need to receive rabies postexposure prophylaxis.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/human_rabies.htm

[Meowmee]

20. I was reading so many articles

On rabies including that one I think when my now indoor cat bit me outside and I had to quarantine him. It is so well controlled here now due to the vaccination of companion animals as they say. But where you don’t have enough or any vaccination in undeveloped places you still have a high amount of infections with I think 60,000 deaths worldwide each year. The transmission to people in many of those countries is largely from unvaccinated dogs. It is a great example of how vaccination can control a very deadly virus. I think rabies has the highest fatality rate of any known virus maybe. Although one doc thinks that some people- (about 25%) who are are exposed fight it off before it takes hold and ever becomes symptomatic at which point it is nearly 100% fatal. There was a study in Peru where a small number of people who lived in an area with bats tested pos for rabies antibodies without ever having had the vaccine or showing any symptoms.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. No.

[Blue_true]

21. Vaccines typically don't help people that are already sick from what

the vaccine is designed to prevent from happening to begin with. There likely has been exceptions.

Sick people will need a cure.