{"id":1015392,"date":"2021-11-15T14:28:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T19:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1015392"},"modified":"2021-11-15T14:28:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T19:28:51","slug":"fact-check-did-merriam-webster-remove-any-mention-of-immunity-from-its-definition-of-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-merriam-webster-remove-any-mention-of-immunity-from-its-definition-of-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did Merriam-Webster Remove Any Mention Of \u2018Immunity\u2019 From Its Definition Of \u2018Vaccine\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-merriam-webster-remove-any-mention-of-immunity-from-its-definition-of-vaccine%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1015392&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CV3CUPsrnUk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Instagram<\/a> claims the Merriam-Webster dictionary changed its definition of the word \u201cvaccine\u201d to remove any mention of \u201cimmunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CV3CUPsrnUk\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" readability=\"-6.6111111111111\"><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><span>Verdict: Misleading<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Merriam-Webster\u2019s definition of \u201cvaccine\u201d has changed, but the current definition still mentions the concept of immunity.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CV3CUPsrnUk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram post<\/a> claims Merriam-Webster removed the term \u201cimmunity\u201d from its definition of \u201cvaccine,\u201d and that this change was done to \u201cpossibly cover for the fact that the Covid \u2018vaccines\u2019 don\u2019t actually provide immunity from Covid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While an examination of archived versions of Merriam-Webster\u2019s definition of \u201cvaccine\u201d reveals slight changes have been made to it, the current definition still mentions the concept of immunity. As of press time, a \u201cvaccine\u201d is defined by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/vaccine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Merriam-Webster<\/a> as \u201ca preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body\u2019s <a class=\"mw_t_d_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/immune%20response\">immune response<\/a> against a specific infectious agent or disease.\u201d This definition includes a link to the definition of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/immune%20response\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">immune response<\/a>,\u201d which provides a more in-depth explanation of how vaccines work.<\/p>\n<p>The earliest iteration of the definition found in <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060212064058\/https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/vaccine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">online archives<\/a> is from 2006 and defines a vaccine as \u201ca preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a particular disease.\u201d <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2020\/06\/18\/fact-check-covid-19-stands-certificate-vaccination-identification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Viral Image Claims COVID-19 Stands For \u2018Certificate Of Vaccination Identification\u2019)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/peter-sokolowski-b254423\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peter Sokolowski<\/a>, the editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster said in a statement provided to Check Your Fact that the previous definition was changed earlier this year to better describe how vaccines work. \u201cMerriam-Webster adds definitions and evolves existing ones to accurately report on how words are used,\u201d said Sokolowski. \u201cIn this case the definition was updated, in May of this year, to better describe how vaccines work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/vaccines\/keythingstoknow.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CDC<\/a> states that the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized or approved by the CDC are a safe and effective way to combat the spread of COVID-19. \u201cCOVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19,\u201d reads a section of the CDC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/vaccines\/keythingstoknow.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a>. \u201cIt typically takes 2 weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A post shared on Instagram claims the Merriam-Webster dictionary changed its definition of the word \u201cvaccine\u201d to remove any mention of \u201cimmunity.\u201d Verdict: Misleading Merriam-Webster\u2019s definition of \u201cvaccine\u201d has changed, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1015392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}