h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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Presuppose two important bits of tech: firstly antigen
capture and sequencing, and secondly antigen 'printing' or
production from an electronic definition.
Local healthcare units could collect new antigens from
locals who have fought off new diseases (new strains of
the cold, flu etc) and
transmit their electronic
representation to others around the world. You could then
go in every month or so for an all-in vaccine that updates
you to the latest version. In other words, antivirus for real
infectious diseases.
I think this is the only route by which a vaccine could
outpace the spread of a disease via air travel and so on. It
also allows people to be less hermetic about catching
viruses from other people, because it would be much less
likely.
[link]
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Are you confusing antigens and antibodies? If
"locals" have fought off the disease, then they
shouldn't have any antigens left in their
bloodstream. |
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You could (in theory) isolate the virus from
infected patients, sequence its DNA (or RNA if it's
flu), email the sequence to someone overseas,
and get them to synthesize the relevant viral
antigen genes, then produce the viral antigen
protein and use it as a vaccine - but that's not
exactly a fast process... |
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I've always understood vaccine development to take
somewhere between 4-18 months, depending upon
the pathogen the researchers are trying to pin down.
Then again, there are some that are particularly
difficult to beat, to the extent efforts have
continued for years without success. |
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