# Why is there no vaccine for the common cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890 "2020-03-03T20:27:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890/1 "2020-03-03T20:27:41Z")
This is a “humorous” quip I sometimes see people making on social media: “Scientists have managed to eliminate smallpox, so why can’t they come up with a vaccine for the common cold?” I have always assumed the reason was that there are so many different strains of the virus that causes colds, it would be nearly impossible to vaccinate against all of them. But that’s always just been a guess. I’d like some actual factual information to back that up. I imagine there’s also just the fact that a cold generally isn’t an illness that kills people, and most scientists probably consider their efforts better spent towards more important things. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890/2 "2020-03-03T20:42:11Z")
Pretty much what you thought: > [@](#): > > There’s at least 160 different strains, or serotypes, of rhinovirus, Barlow says. That means cracking the cold isn’t so much looking for one solution to one problem as it is trying to design a master key to open hundreds of different locks at once. “It’s incredibly difficult to create a vaccine or drug that will target all of those 160 [strains],” Barlow says. > **[Why Haven't We Cured the Common Cold Yet?](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-havent-we-cured-the-common-cold-yet/)** > > Researchers think they’re close to a cure for the common cold, but they first need to solve a complex problem that’s perplexed scientists for decades ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890/3 "2020-03-03T20:49:42Z")
You’re pretty much there. Check out the [wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold) > [@](#): > > Well over 200 virus strains are implicated in causing the common cold… Vaccination has proved difficult as there are many viruses involved and they mutate rapidly. Creation of a broadly effective vaccine is, therefore, highly improbable. Actually the version of that quip that I know ends with…_and there’s still no cure for the common cold!_ (or similar.) Except, of course, there is: [Pleconaril](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleconaril). It works, too - efficacywise. But there’s more than that to getting a medicine approved. > [@](#): > > The application was rejected, citing safety concerns The point being, in part, that the safety bar is set much higher for _a trivial and self-limiting disease_. (Not my line - wish I could remember who I’m quoting). j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890/4 "2020-03-03T20:51:25Z")
(_Partial_ ninja) (I like to think) j ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890/5 "2020-03-04T21:25:06Z")
“If you’ve got a bad cold, take a shot of malaria.” -R.Zimmerman IIRC ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-vaccine-for-the-common-cold/848890/6 "2020-03-04T21:28:24Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > The point being, in part, that the safety bar is set much higher for _a trivial and self-limiting disease_. A very good point. As the old saying goes: a cold lasts ten days if you treat it, a week and a half if you don’t.