@noodleann, they don't truly know the longevity of a immunity secondary to a vaccine until it is in widespread circulation and periods of time have elapsed since vaccination programs have taken place. That has not ever been a part of vaccine approval, that is not insanity.
For example, they learned well after the MMR vaccine had been deployed that it in fact did not provide years and years of protection since they had an outbreak of measles that occurred in older children previously vaccinated that came into contact with measles from someone that had not been vaccinated.
Thus, they added a booster MMR prior to 5th grade students for a number of years and required health care workers to either have titers drawn to provie immunity or take the MMR vaccine. After the gap individuals had been covered they then revised the immunization schedule to add another MMR vaccine to provide longer coverage for children. The goal is to provide herd immunity in children which then protects older adults.
However, that doesn't mean the MMR vaccine is not efficient. It is and has gone quite a long way in decreasing incidence of measles, mump, and rubella in the wider population.
How long a vaccine is effective is not part of any vaccine approval process. The goal is to produce a vaccine that illicits an immune response that does provides protection from serious disease of the identified pathogen, provides protection that is safe.
A Safe and effective vaccine doesn't necessarily require a vaccine that lasts 2 years, 3 years, etc. It depends.
A very common misconception about childhood vaccination programs is that those vaccines produce life long immunity. Many of them don't. The goal is to produce herd immunity in that target group since it spreads so readily in that population and thereby protects older individuals that might be susceptible as well.
I think people are confusing efficacy with long term coverage. They are not the same thing. Efficacy relates to how effective the vaccine is at preventing serious disease of that pathogen. In that regard the stats are already out for Moderna and Pfizer and demonstrated a high level of efficacy at prevening serious disease from SARS-CoV-2. That is the goal of efficacy.
Don't people remember the smallpox scare post 9-11? There were some that had fears that groups could get their hands on the small pox virus to release it in the general population. If that ever did happen, no one really knows if those vaccinated for small pox would still have appropriate levels of neutralizing antibodies from childhood vaccination to actively fight the disease if they were exposed. But that doesn't mean the vaccine wasn't effective. It most certainly was since smallpox is the only vaccine preventable disease to be eradicated from mankind.
* Freedom has a taste the protected will never know *
Blogs & Forums
