Dispelling Myths: Understanding Herpes, Vaccines, and Viral Familie
No, the COVID-19 vaccine didn’t give anyone herpes. Take it from someone who has read the journal article cited by media as clickbait (tldr; it’s boring don’t subject yourselves to that).
When most hear the word “herpes,” they think of genital herpes. For the media, herpes is clickbait, largely because it is so stigmatized.
What most fail to realize is that the viruses responsible for genital herpes, HSV-1 and HSV-2, are part of a larger virus family, herpesviridae.
Viruses belong in families because they share similar characteristics. For example, the ability to remain dormant and reactivate under certain conditions.
The popularized article cites a study entitled, “Herpes zoster following BNT162B2 MRNA COVID-19 vaccination in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AAIRDS): A case series.”
This study investigates six (6) patients of 491 with AAIRDS who developed herpes zoster shortly after vaccination.
Herpes zoster is a REACTIVATION of the varicella zoster virus (aka responsible for shingles and chicken pox).
It’s not new. The vaccine didn’t cause herpes, but it may have caused a response for a very specific type of individual with a weakened immune system who already experienced chicken pox (a member of the herpes virus family) in their lifetimes.
I highly recommend you check out @brosandprose’s tweets about this because she is a lot funnier than I am.