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shipsAreWeird123 t1_j7bragv wrote

Reply to comment by Jumpsuit_boy in New evidence suggests that ‘hybrid’ immunity, the result of both vaccination and a bout of COVID-19, can provide partial protection against reinfection for at least eight months. Immunity acquired by booster vaccination alone seems to fade somewhat faster. by MistWeaver80

There hasn't been a ton of recent testing of the smallpox vaccine. We don't have smallpox challenge trials for example.

Smallpox immunity wanes after vaccination, but still can prevent infection and severe infection.

https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/7022/

Part of what makes the smallpox vaccine effective, is that smallpox is not circulating in the population and mutating. Smallpox is also a DNA virus, and DNA viruses tend to have fewer mutations, so vaccines continue to work for them, rather than the flu which is RNA and mutates like crazy. It's probably most effective to think about the antigen that the vaccine is training your body to target, and the delivery mechanism for that.

mRNA vaccines are really going to change the vaccine landscape.

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