General Discussion

Last edited Wed Apr 2, 2025, 07:46 PM - Edit history (4)

Generally, if you have measles as a child that will give you life long immunity to it. However in the case of measles it damages your overall immunity and causes something called immune amnesia so, you are more susceptible to other infectious diseases and even other diseases in general, sometimes for many years after. If you read the statistics/articles I posted you will see that measles was and can be deadly and cause a lot of damage and it was doing that before the vaccine was developed. And still is in underdeveloped areas countries which don't have good access or high vaccination levels.

Some viruses you can get twice, I had chicken pox twice as a child. So, nothing is 100%. The thing that protects people and especially children in the case of measles and other viruses/bacteria etc. is vaccination of a large portion of the population who are able to be vaccinated. Also viruses can have different strains. You could have immunity to one and not to others. For instance you could have immunity to one strain of polio if you had it but not to others. The vaccine provides immunity to all 3 types of paralytic polio.

https://www.who.int/health-topics/poliomyelitis#tab=tab_1

You could not develop immunity properly to a virus etc. also even though you had exposure or became ill and become infected again. People's immune systems can work differently, not everyone develops the same immunity. For instance it was discovered with covid that some people who were exposed and who were ill didn't develop antibodies or didn't have them detected but they had t and b cell immunity. Covid is one of those viruses, like flu viruses, that mutates frequently and unfortunately needs many boosters because having it once will not give long term immunity. Hopefully a vaccine will be developed that will give long term immunity. At this point boosters are recommend every 6 months especially for those who are high risk.

You can be infected with wooping cough / pertussis(a bacteria) more than once. So if there is an outbreak it is recommended everyone susceptible and at risk, children and elderly should be boostered if they haven't been. The tdap is recommended every 10 years anyway, it also protects against tetanus. We have had wooping cough outbreaks in my area several times over the past few years including this year. It's important to understand that these and other outbreaks are due to non vaccination.

Rabies, maybe the deadliest virus known, also requires more than one vaccination- even if you are vaccinated as a protection for whatever reason, if you have an exposure you still need booster shots and other treatments to prevent it. There is also the probability that some people become exposed to viruses, fight it off and never have symptoms and develop antibodies and immunity. There was a study in Peru which determined some people living in an area with bats/caves who had had possible exposures but who were never vaccinated had rabies antibodies. Rabies depends on again the strain and the severity of the exposure, but it is nearly 100% fatal once cns symptoms begin. There are only 7 people world wide who are thought to have survived it once they started having cns symptoms.


Many viruses and bacterial infections have been eradicated or pretty much controlled due to vaccination, but if enough people stop getting vaccinated you can have outbreaks/epidemics, and it's also possible to be infected again if you are immune compromised and it can happen sometimes anyway, nothing is 100%. . For IPV /Polio vaccine, the recommendation in my state is if your polio vaccine was more than 10 years ago and you could be exposed you should be revaccinated, (if you have had the full series as a child then you only need one shot). Several counties in my state have detected polio virus in the water. So, with everything going on I decided to be boostered for that as well as mmr, and tdap.

Viruses/bacteria don't go away, many have been active for millions of years and they evolve. It's a matter of keeping them at bay with vaccination to protect people. In many cases vaccination has eradicated deadly viruses/diseases and now with this insanity that is all going to be destroyed.

I am going to say this here: Can you get measles or another such virus again if you had it or were vaccinated. It is unlikely but it is not impossible. You could be reinfected for whatever reasons. So the smart thing to do is to get boosters when outbreaks occur, and vaccination levels are low if it has been many years since your vaccine or infection. Actually I did it in advance for polio since I don't want to ever get polio. There is no current outbreak here etc. but levels were detected and it was recommended to booster. I had to go to my doctor to get it because the pharmacy wouldn't do that one. Part of the reason to get boosted now is so that you do it when the vaccines are available, not when their is an epidemic and there aren't enough vaccines to go around etc. This will be even more important now with the attack on the healthcare system, vaccination, science and research. We don't know what will happen.

* I wanted to add something about testing antibody levels since people mentioned that. I personally do not always trust that as a sign of good immunity. For one several dvm have told me high antibody levels does not always = good immunity. For my kitties. However cats and dogs are over vaccinated and the schedule has changed a lot except for rabies which is required yearly or you can opt for the 3 year one which is safer now. Here is an article on antibody testing and covid immunity...

What to know about antibody tests in a post-vaccine world

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/antibody-tests-post-vaccine-world/story?id=78976646#:~:text=Early%20reports%20suggested%20that%20people%20who%20tested,person%20is%20immune%20to%20contracting%20the%20virus.

Antibody tests for viruses can only confirm that you were either exposed and or vaccinated. It doesn't tell you what your actual immunity may be because that relies on other things besides antibody levels and how severe your first infection was if you were infected.
Vaccines also aren't 100%- you can have breakthrough infections, not just for covid, even if vaccinated or previously infected. However being vaccinated is always better, and you will have a much less severe infection in most cases.

So, I prefer to be boosted instead of testing antibody levels if it has been many years since my vaccine. It is also a lot cheaper and easier. I am high risk for pretty much everything, so I want as much protection as possible. I prefer the minimal risk of any vaccine to the high risk of serious contagious infections which can maim and kill me and other people. I have found numerous times in my life in many situations that when people say that can't ever happen etc. It often does sadly. Murphy's law etc. 😁