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Technically, the annual flu vaccine is not a "booster" in the true sense of the word "booster." It is reformulated every year to include whatever they guess to be the circulating strains of the virus for that year. So, it's almost like an entirely different vaccine every year. But if you have the same strains circulating for consecutive years, you may have some of the same strains repeated--it that sense, parts of the flu vaccine could be considered boosters because immunity does wane.
The flu shot was never called a booster ... until 2021.
Asking on an informal basis to see how prevalent testing for COVID actually is.
In California I don't believe in testing because they just use that info to do more lockdowns and restrictions. That said, I've gotten tested twice when required and tested once at home. The one time at home was the only time I actually felt pretty sick. Had I been positive ( I wasn't) I'd not have reported it to the authorities.
Yep, testing people who have no reason to believe they're sick is just a dumb waste of resources. If you're hellbent on being a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Yeah, but see.... that's not what you said. You didn't say "testing people who have no reason to believe they're sick"; you said "testing healthy people needs to stop". There's a significant difference. Perhaps you should choose your words more carefully... ?
The point that you seem to be missing is that you do not know if someone is healthy unless you have tested them, just as you do not know if someone is pregnant until you administer a pregnancy test, or whether they have diabetes until you check their glucose levels, etc. Since at least 1 out of 3 people (and possibly as many as 50%+) who have covid and are infectious (meaning capable of passing the disease on) are either asymptomatic or presymptomatic, then there is no way to know whether someone is sick and spreading the disease until you test them.
Are we OK here so far? Do you understand this part of it?
So this is why it is important to test people who have recently been at high risk for exposure. Now, you may not like that, and may wish it were not true, but the science behind it is solid. It's just a fact. So what your argument comes down to has to be one of two things - either that you want to ignore science because you think you know better, or that you agree with the science but don't think it's important in your worldview.
Which one is it? Or is there a third option I'm missing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckity
The flu shot was never called a booster ... until 2021.
And very few people call it that now, either, so what's your point? Which silly conspiracy are you trying to promote this time?
Anyway, for anybody who knew what they were talking about, that's always been what it technically was, in the strictest sense of the word. But nobody ever called it that, they just called it the flu shot because it's simpler and there's no sensible reason to split hairs about the terminology.
What difference does it make?
Last edited by Mr. In-Between; 12-07-2021 at 01:58 PM..
Never tested got both first round shots and got the booster. I have been to a lot of places with a decent amount of people myself and nobody in my family has gotten Covid.
My parents have some cousins and friends that gotten Covid 2 of them died.
And very few people call it that now, either, so what's your point? Which silly conspiracy are you trying to promote this time?
Anyway, for anybody who knew what they were talking about, that's always been what it technically was, in the strictest sense of the word. But nobody ever called it that, they just called it the flu shot because it's simpler and there's no sensible reason to split hairs about the terminology.
What difference does it make?
No conspiracy - just the truth.
The two vaccine schedule for covid was supposed to be what it took to end the pandemic. Until it wasn't - and then 3rd booster was recommended. And now we're talking about a 4th booster.
It's much more palatable to tell the masses that the covid vaccines are like the flu shot - you get a booster every year. Instead of coming out and saying "we really don't know what we're doing and we don't know how long the covid vaccine will last."
And before you say it was known from the beginning that covid boosters would ALWAYS be an annual or bi annual shot ... overwhelmingly it wasn't. The majority of people aren't sitting around, diving into research papers and studies to find the truth about what may or will happen - people were told that the vaccines (2 shot series of Pfizer or Moderna or one of J & J) would be the end of the pandemic.
And then it wasn't.
So we find ourselves here with people arguing that the flu shot is a booster - when it's not. It's a different formulation every year. The covid vaccine is the same vaccine over and over ... maybe the 3425th booster will do the trick.
Yeah, but see.... that's not what you said. You didn't say "testing people who have no reason to believe they're sick"; you said "testing healthy people needs to stop". There's a significant difference. Perhaps you should choose your words more carefully... ?
The point that you seem to be missing is that you do not know if someone is healthy unless you have tested them, just as you do not know if someone is pregnant until you administer a pregnancy test, or whether they have diabetes until you check their glucose levels, etc. Since at least 1 out of 3 people (and possibly as many as 50%+) who have covid and are infectious (meaning capable of passing the disease on) are either asymptomatic or presymptomatic, then there is no way to know whether someone is sick and spreading the disease until you test them.
Are we OK here so far? Do you understand this part of it?
So this is why it is important to test people who have recently been at high risk for exposure. Now, you may not like that, and may wish it were not true, but the science behind it is solid. It's just a fact. So what your argument comes down to has to be one of two things - either that you want to ignore science because you think you know better, or that you agree with the science but don't think it's important in your worldview.
Which one is it? Or is there a third option I'm missing?
You're actually responding to two different posters; I was the one who stated "testing healthy people", but I did actually mean what albert was saying. Fair point on the wording.
I guess I select "agree with the science but don't think it's important"...anymore. We are 21+ months into this and have vaccines, treatments, and countless guidance on how to protect oneself from the virus. Testing people who have no/negligible symptoms then quarantining them because they're "positive" is highly disruptive and not sustainable as a long-term/permanent practice.
Yeah, but see.... that's not what you said. You didn't say "testing people who have no reason to believe they're sick"; you said "testing healthy people needs to stop". There's a significant difference. Perhaps you should choose your words more carefully... ?
I meant exactly what I said. Healthy people generally have no reason to believe they're sick. Like I said, if you're hellbent on seeing every conceivable illness as covid, every conceivable illness will be covid. If you're feeling a bit under the weather or your body's functioning unusually, and you're in the "immunocompromised" bucket (fat, old, pre-existing conditions), by all means, stick a swab up your nose. But to test people for no other reason than they've been in a foreign country and boarding a US-bound flight for example is arbitrary and a complete waste of time and money.
So yeah, the testing insanity needs to stop. We're turning the entire world into paranoid hypochondriacs. Most generally healthy people who aren't fat, old or sick aren't going to have any long term side effects from this disease, and at this point, it doesn't matter anymore. I know democrats are desperate to prolong the Pandemic(TM) forever though.
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