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Comment by fab1an | Hacker News Reader

Amusingly, this is one of the few cases where - extremely broadly - one general idea of homeopathy works: you're basically just microdosing virus. This is amusing because a lot of anti-vaxxers (at least in Germany) will also be into homeopathy. There's possibly a good pro-vax-comms strategy in here: reframe vaccines as homeopathic viral microdoses (instead of complicated pharmaceutical compounds) and you might save a few kids.

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You're definitely on to something. I couldn't find the original source, but this FB comment has become something of a meme

https://twitter.com/Golfergirl2018/status/121690584817960960...

> I am not anti-vax, but I understand why some parents do not want chemicals in their childrens bodies. I think instead of chemical shots, doctors should give a very small amount of the virus so the body can build up immunity.

Not really.

Homeopathy assumes that which causes likewise symptoms to be a candidate for cure, while here it is the idea of microdosing the disease, which hopefully would not case symptoms like the full blown disease, and the second tenant of homeopathy, the dilutions increase potency, would also hopefully be absent as that would be like the viral load factor, but in reverse.

You are using facts. This is not very effective (against antivaxers and homeopathy enthusiasts).

Facts are very effective against homeopaths, you just have to dilute them 100x first.

Upon what evidence is this generalized statement based? Did you fact check it?

Note: I pose this question not as snark, or as some sort of a "disproof" of the "general truthiness" of your statement (with which I do not disagree, fwiw), but 100% literally.

A tenant is someone who resides in a building, tenet is the word you want.

Thx. Many errors in that post, but beyond an edit now.

Although vaccines aren't the same thing as variolation, and were developed because of the inherent risks of microdosing a dangerous pathogen. They are called "vaccines" because of the use of cowpox (a virus related to but much less dangerous than smallpox) in Jenner's vaccine and cow is "vacca" in Latin (similar to modern Spanish vaca).

That might increase belief in homeopathy, which is bad too.

Homeopathy beliefs are that the stronger the dilution, the more powerful the medication. Homeopathy would be diluting the virus to the point where there's a strong probability of zero virus particles remaining in the "medicine" because of the belief the water has the memory of the virus.

This is false, because homeopathy has no effect other than placebo and placebo does not stop covid 19 deaths.

Any cite for your claim placebo can’t prevent a covid death? That seems unlikely given how powerful and common the placebo effect seems to be.

But this has a side effect of supporting homeopathy. I'd prefer we found some better way to educate people.

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