The new definition of "vaccine", published in May, reads: "a preparation that is administered – as by injection – to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease." "Merriam-Webster adds definitions and evolves existing ones to accurately report on how words are used," he said.Īccording to an archived version of the dictionary's website, Merriam-Webster formerly said a "vaccine" was "a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living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." Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told USA TODAY in an email that the company changed its "vaccine" definition to include more scientifically accurate language. Definition changed 'immunity' to 'immune response' USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.
The company told USA TODAY the goal was to be scientifically accurate about how vaccines work, not to question their effectiveness. Merriam-Webster revised its "vaccine" definition to replace "immunity" with "immune response." The change also addresses the new technology of mRNA vaccines in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The post generated close to 27,000 likes in less than a week. Other social media users have shared false claims that Merriam-Webster changed the definition of "anti-vaxxer," PolitiFact reported.įact check: Claim is missing context on WHO's parental-consent guidelines for vaccinating children "Now, Merriam Webster has literally changed the definition of 'vaccine' and removed the 'immunity' portion in order to possibly cover for the fact that the COVID 'vaccines' don't actually provide immunity from COVID." "Vaccine used to be defined as a substances that provides 'immunity' to a specific disease," reads the text of an Instagram post shared Nov. Merriam-Webster, the company known for its reference books and dictionaries, has become the source of online misinformation about vaccines. The definition used to be: "A 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.Watch Video: Omicron: Biden says new COVID-19 variant 'not a cause for panic The claim: Merriam-Webster removed the immunity part of its 'vaccine' definition The company revised its entry for the word in May, since the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines trigger an immune response in an entirely new way. A groundbreaking vaccine calls for a revised definitionĪnd what were people finding when they searched up the word? Merriam-Webster says a new type of vaccine merited a new and improved definition. "This new higher rate of lookups since August has remained stable throughout the late fall, showing not just a very high interest in vaccine, but one that started high and grew during the course of 2021," Merriam-Webster added.
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It notes that interest in the word has been high since the start of the pandemic, with people searching and discussing the funding, development and distribution of vaccines well before they were actually available at pharmacies.Īrts & Life Merriam-Webster Singles Out Nonbinary 'They' For Word Of The Year Honorsįor context: This was around the time when New York and California mandated vaccines for health care workers, the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Biden administration announced plans for booster shots for the general U.S. Lookups for the word increased 601% year-over-year from 2020, and were up 1,048% from 2019, the dictionary said. That was certainly the case with "vaccine" this year. It must have been a top lookup at in the past 12 months, and it must have seen a significant increase in lookups over the previous year. The word of the year is determined by data, as Merriam-Webster has explained in the past.
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"But it was also at the center of debates about personal choice, political affiliation, professional regulations, school safety, healthcare inequality, and so much more." Searches were up more than 600% from last year "For many, the word symbolized a possible return to the lives we led before the pandemic," it said in Monday's announcement.
The publishing company noted that the word holds particular significance both as a medical term and a vehicle for ideological conflict. National 'Vax cards,' 'vax sites,' 'fully vaxxed': 'Vax' is Oxford's 2021 word of the year
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