Quote "At the risk of completely derailing this thread…. Care to explain the difference between a “vaccine” and an “immunization”?"

so as to not derail other threads.

above is a fair but in todays world a difficult question.

direct from a family member who is a dr. in layman's terms.

Vaccines and Immunizations are very similar and often confused because its similar methods to create a similar result.

with a Vaccine we give the person low dose of the virus to teach the body's immune system. this method has changed and been perfected over the years but the idea is to have the body's immune response catch and kill the virus and prevent the host from catching the virus (getting sick) this works for things like polio and mumps because these viruses are slow to change and evolve, so once your body know what it is, it will kill it quickly. you only catch chicken pox once because once your body knows what its fighting its game over for the virus.

some viruses like the common cold, influenza and covid. are always rapidly changing. constantly learning and adapting. spreading into multiple strains. regular vaccinations don't work because the virus changes and the body no longer recognizes the threat. immunizations teach the body certain tags. specific points in a virus strain that are least likely to change. (the T and R cells people talk about) this gives the body an edge but only in helping to fight the virus, people will still usualy catch the virus but will be less sick. influenza becomes the sniffles instead of fevers, ect.
immunizations always have to be adapted as the virus they are targeting changes. and always requires boosters, this is why they recommend the flu shot every year.


the flu shot is called a shot because its an immunization. not a vaccine. the flu shot is different every year. scientists look to data early in the flu season and basically make a guess as to which strain or strains is likely to be most prevalent and then they make an immunization to best fight it. most people don't realize that SARS is now part of the regular flu season rotation.


why is this difference important in relation to Covid? because they lied. or at least mislead people weather intentionally or not. but now they are leaning into the lie instead of admitting it.
they said covid was not the flu. while technically a true statement. they also said that if we all get the vaccine we could eliminate the virus like we have polio. the reality is Covid is more like the flu than it is polio. we will never eliminate the flu (at least not with current methods and tech) and will will just the same never eliminate covid.

instead of telling people that we could be immunized and it will weaken the virus. they claimed vaccine. made people think that a shot in the arm and all would be normal. and then they turned people against each other. they removed the voice of drs and experts who were calling out the difference and telling people this wasn't going to end with a single shot in the arm.

the reality is you will get covid. probably many times in your life. if you get the shot every year it will be mild cases. if you don't it may kill you. time to get back to normal.