
Preliminary evidence that MMR vaccine might provide protection against Covid-19 - ericb
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.10.20053207v1
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ggrrttyy
God this would be ironic. Everybody that's protesting would go absolutely
bonkers if next month the government ordered adults to get MMR.

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3fe9a03ccd14ca5
Why would the government need to order that?

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forgot_my_pwd
Yeah it seems like there is a straightforward free market solution: you don't
get a vaccine, businesses may not allow you on their property or in their
stores.

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zenexer
That’s unlikely to happen. Businesses generally have no means of verifying
whether you’ve been vaccinated, and any attempt by the government to implement
or enforce such a system would inevitably be contested and tied up in courts.

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forgot_my_pwd
It would be easy to issue certificates to people who have been vaccinated.
Businesses already have guidelines for who can enter their premises, like
wearing shirts in restaurants in spite of not wearing a shirt being legal.

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zenexer
IANAL, but there’s no way that isn’t going to be contested. That’s not to say
it can’t happen, but I have a hard time believing it could happen within a
relevant timeframe.

The shirt and shoes rule is a health concern, much like what you’re describing
here. Unlike vaccination certificates, though, it’s been around a lot longer
and isn’t going to result in a heated political battle anytime soon.

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ck2
Just a note that initial peer-review of this paper has been very negative.

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ghostpepper
is this available online anywhere?

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pretendscholar
So there is a 29 percent homology between their respective fusion proteins. So
you would have to hope that an antigen binding site is somewhere in the
conserved region?

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hannob
If I read this right this isn't based on any data, just a hypothesis because
there is some similarity between the viruses. That's... a very low level of
evidence. It's a vague hypothesis, and one that is probably hard to test.

Other than that: Absolutely get an MMR vaccine if you don't have one. I
wouldn't cound on it helping against Covid-19, but it helps against the
Measles, which is a good enough reason to get it anyway.

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WrtCdEvrydy
Maybe the reason there's been such a low rate of death is that the MMR vaccine
had some effect on the Coronavirus? I'm not a scientist, I write Javascript.

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mrfusion
Do less Italians get the mmr? That would be interesting to look at the hard
hit places.

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mseri
Yes, children do

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dnautics
Importantly, what about children 50+ years ago? In Italy

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ghaff
Presumably mostly not. The original rubella vaccine was developed in the late
sixties and the current vaccine (that's part of MMR) didn't come out until
1979.

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mordeniks
The mechanism of protection may be heterologous immunity. H.I is a consequence
of an encounter with a specific antigen, which can alter the subsequent immune
response to a different antigen. It can occur with infections or vaccination.
It is fascinating how the Covid-19 virus spreads rampantly through adult
communities but almost stops in its tracks at schools - it's like there is
herd immunity already in the schoolyard. This was demonstrated in a study that
came out a week ago in Australia.

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Exmoor
I had to look up the study[0] you're referring to since I haven't heard
anything other than a lot of anecdotal reports about children's ability to
transmit the virus.

[0]: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/safe-as-houses-
covid-19-stud...](https://www.smh.com.au/national/safe-as-houses-
covid-19-study-clears-nsw-schools-for-student-return-20200425-p54n6i.html)

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zenexer
I’m generally opposed to such speculative papers receiving widespread
publicity; they often present valuable ideas, but the general public hasn’t
been handling such speculation all that responsibly during this pandemic.

This is an exception. If you aren’t already vaccinated, you should seek to
correct that. It might not protect you against COVID-19, but it’ll definitely
protect you against other diseases.

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jmpman
Is this potentially why children are less impacted? They have more recently
had the MMR vaccine.

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cududa
I believe the consensus is the virus binds to ACE-2 proteins, which are
produced as a biproduct of tissue damage. Given kids have had less
environmental damage to their lungs, less ACE-2 and a smaller surface area to
bind to

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taborj
Very interesting. Do you have a link so I can learn more?

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Confiks
When interpreting this, please also consider the warning [1] by Tedros Adhanom
et al. in a letter in The Lancet:

"[I]t is very important to adhere to WHO's recommendation that the BCG vaccine
is used for COVID-19 only in randomised controlled trials. (...) [T]he BCG
vaccine is already in short supply, and indiscriminate use could jeopardise
the supply needed to protect children against tuberculosis in high-risk
areas."

[1]
[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736\(20\)31025-4/fulltext)

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samatman
This reminds me of the recommendation by, wouldn't you know it, _the same
people_ , that masks should only be worn by the visibly sick, and medical
personnel.

This disease has killed hundreds of thousands of people, and is on track to
kill millions, quite aside from the terrible economic havoc which is just
beginning.

 _ramp up production of the fucking vaccine_. We can afford to be wrong about
this.

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zenexer
It should be clear by this point that we aren’t really capable of ramping up
production fast enough for many of the resources needed during a pandemic.
Whether one attributed that to ignorance, incompetence, malice, or conspiracy
doesn’t really matter; at the end of the day, the improvements we demand
aren’t happening as fast as we’d like.

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Analemma_
How many of these preliminary "X might confer protection against Covid-19"
stories are likely to pan out? I've seen them now for the MMR vaccine, zinc,
vitamin D, ACE inhibitors, and probably a half-dozen other things. To be
honest, I think there's so much noise here (most people are asymptomatic or
get mild cases) that I wouldn't really trust any signal without a massive
sample size.

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spuz
It's perfectly fine to propose topics for further study. Just don't go taking
every vitamin and supplement that is in the news unless you are aware of the
potential risks.

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pmiller2
I agree, but would also like to add that MMR, vitamin D, and zinc lozenges are
all very safe when taken as directed. Unless you have a specific medical
contraindication, the potential harms of these products are very small
compared to the benefits.

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raverbashing
This. This is what we should be looking into. As well as wearing a mask.

I believe that the WHO is (except for their very legitimate concern about
panic buying) wrong in not pushing for these measures. Which, from an
epidemiological point of view, make _a lot of_ sense.

If taking Vit D can make the mortality, let's say, even 10% lower in the most
(would be) critical cases, it is definitely worth it. Wearing a mask reduces
R. Even if it's a crappy mask, the value of R will be reduced. Heck I believe
a lot of countries would be in a less critical position if people would just
_wash their hands_ or use sanitizer.

Sure, not everybody can have the MMR or the BCG vaccine right now, so it might
be better to wait a bit more.

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throwlaplace
wait doesn't this mean that those of us that have gotten the MMR vaccine are
potentially immune?

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btilly
Not really potentially immune.

Just protected from the worst of it.

Think of a windbreaker in a rainstorm. Sounds fun? No. Better than no coat in
the rainstorm? Yes!

