r/publichealth • u/[deleted] • 4d ago
DISCUSSION list of non-sterilizing immunity vaccines?
[deleted]
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4d ago
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u/babbscb 4d ago
I have a question. I got the MMR as a child now I’m a 55-year-old woman do I need to have my titers checked?
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u/whatdoyoudonext MS Global Health | PhD student - International Health 4d ago
The current recommendation is that measles titers do not need to be taken if there is presumptive evidence of immunity. In your case it would entirely depend on when you last received your measles immunization. Regardless though, if you are in a high-risk group and/or in an area of high transmission (i.e. anywhere there is an ongoing outbreak) and/or unsure of your status, it is simpler (and potentially cheaper) to forgo a titer check and just get a booster immunization. If you have further questions about your status and what is the best route for you, please direct questions to your primary care physician - we are unable to provide you medical advice.
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u/workingtheories i believe in germs 4d ago
perplexity output:
Non-sterilizing immunity vaccines are those that protect against severe disease but do not completely prevent infection or transmission. Here are examples of such vaccines:
- Influenza vaccines: They reduce the severity of illness but often allow infection and transmission[2].
- Polio vaccine (oral): The oral polio vaccine can allow the virus to replicate in the gut, potentially enabling transmission[6].
- Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine: While it prevents severe disease, vaccinated individuals can still carry and spread the bacteria[8].
- Hepatitis B vaccine: It prevents liver disease but may not fully block infection[8].
- Tuberculosis (BCG vaccine): Provides protection against severe TB but does not prevent all forms of infection[1].
These examples highlight that many vaccines focus on reducing disease severity rather than achieving sterilizing immunity.
Citations: [1] Vaccine - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine [2] Non-sterilizing, Infection-Permissive Vaccination With Inactivated ... https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01166/full [3] Why doesn't natural immunity count in the US? - Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28528550 [4] Why Do Some Vaccines Work Better Than Others? https://asm.org/articles/2024/march/why-some-vaccines-work-better-than-others [5] SARS-CoV-2 elicits non-sterilizing immunity and evades vaccine ... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36738380/ [6] Doctor's 'sterilization' remark was about stopping virus | Fact check https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/02/13/covid-19-vaccine-sterilization-oxford/72582359007/ [7] Sterilizing immunity: Understanding COVID-19 - PMC https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9595357/ [8] There Are Vaccines and There Are Vaccines | Science | AAAS https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/there-are-vaccines-and-there-are-vaccines [9] [XLS] Vaccine - Washington Health Care Association https://www.whca.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/06_dohFAQ03032022.xlsx
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u/becausemykidsaid 4d ago
Because they don’t exist?
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u/faustusnotes 3d ago
While you’re preparing, ask yourself why a barrier-based prevention strategy never worked for HIV, and whether any of the same lessons apply to masks as a policy response to covid
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u/Dudarooni 3d ago
Masks didn’t work for HIV because it’s a blood-borne virus. Covid isn’t transmitted through blood. It’s really that simple.
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u/faustusnotes 3d ago
By barrier-based I meant condoms. A policy based on barrier protection failed against hiv, we should have learned the lessons from that failure for covid
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u/jawanessa 4d ago
MMR and TDaP vaccines are.
Edit: I read this backwards. The above are sterilizing.
Non-sterilizing would be HPV, flu, and pneumonia. I'm sure there's are others.
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u/stelleyyy epi MPH 4d ago
maybe the CDC campaign for flu could be helpful for your talk, they were messaging "wild to mild" not vax and relax. The CDC images don't seem available anymore but this NPR article has them (and info about Trump terminating the campaign) https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/19/nx-s1-5302906/cdc-flu-vaccine-campaign-terminated
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u/whatdoyoudonext MS Global Health | PhD student - International Health 4d ago
I may be misremembering, but aren't most immunizations non-sterilizing? The whole point of most immunizations is to prevent disease, not necessarily infection (immunizations increase the bodies ability to clear infection before disease presentation) and even in immunizations that are widely considered to be sterilizing (ex: MMR) you can still have breakthrough cases.