Pretty sure the Darwin award is for idiots who die doing something stupid, not just idiots in general
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2025
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It also includes idiots who survive but permanently render themselves unable to reproduce, but I don't see that counting here either as I think you get disqualified for harming others, so stupidly getting your kid killed wouldn't count.
He's bound to die from doing something stupid so might as well give him the award right away
I don't understand one thing about the terminology. Aren't vaccines for prevention, and in this case it's more like a treatment, since the newborn is presumably already infected? Or am I misunderstanding the meaning of the term vaccine?
Vaccines can be prophylactic or therapeutic. In this case, it’s a post-exposure prophylactic, because it’s administered after exposure to a pathogen but before the disease.
What makes the vaccine more effective than actual exposure to the actual virus? I tried googling but couldn't find an eli5 version
The vaccine only contains the part of the virus that trigger an immune response, not the parts that take over your cells and wreak havoc on your body.
In addition, the post-exposure version of the hep b vaccine will contain a dose of immunoglobulin that gives temporary immunity to the disease. So it’s like training wheels while your body starts to produce its own immune response.
not all vaccines. some vaccines (most olden ones) were just differnt similar or weaker or less potent strains, which while still infected you, you get some immunity because your body made "ammunition" against the actual threat.
then there are vaccines like mrna vaccines, where we find the mrna sequence that enocdes for specific protiens, for example, some surface protien. this protien is a part of virus, but alone the protien is pretty much useless. your body still sees that their is a foreign protein, and builds ammunition against this protien. when the actual protien with the specific virus comes, our body sees the same virus, and uses the same ammunition.
I think most therapeutic vaccines just actually give you the necessary antibodies to go up against the infection.
"Patients affected with chronic viral infections are administered with therapeutic vaccines, as their immune system is not able to produce enough efficient antibodies."
Would you prefer to test your smoke alarms by:
- Pushing the “Test” button on your smoke alarm?
- Lighting your house on fire?
The entire point of the vaccine is to prevent the virus. If you wait until you’ve been exposed to the virus, you’ve defeated the entire purpose of the vaccine.
In this given example, I would rather use a cigarette or something to make sure the actual sensor works because for all I know the test button just makes sure the alarm can sound, but not if the thing can detect smoke.
I have no parallel with this on vaccines except maybe wondering if they gave me a placebo.
In the context of this discussion, you HAVE been exposed to the virus. To use your analogy, you're hitting the test button when your house is already on fire. Hence the reason why I asked the question in the first place
Oh, I misunderstood. My apologies.
Hepatitis B takes 60-90 days to incubate. Because of the slow incubation, the vaccine works best if started within 24 hours of exposure, and can still work if administered up to 7 days after exposure. Newborns are typically exposed during birth, not while growing in the womb.
Compare to, say, the COVID-19, where the incubation is 2-14 days. The vaccine takes about 10-14 days to set in, so if you take it post-exposure in most cases you’ll be done with the actual infection before the vaccine even starts working.
Newborns are typically exposed during birth, not while growing in the womb.
Oh interesting. I hadn't considered they could be isolated from it during pregnancy.
Yeah, the placenta is pretty bad ass