5 ms·
It is much easier to use pharmacological means for that. You don't fight bacterial pneumonia with good discipline and stern words, you use antibiotics. What wi
by lbeltrame 6y ago
It is much easier to use pharmacological means for that.
You don't fight bacterial pneumonia with good discipline and stern words, you use antibiotics. What will ultimately get out of this problem are drugs (and vaccines).
All these non pharmacological interventions are just bandaids.
- nkozyra 6y agoI don't think anyone disputes that vaccines are better but as of today we don't have one.
- lbeltrame 6y agoI didn't say just vaccines. I said pharmacological interventions, which are more than just vaccines. No one worries about a disease if it can be treated. There are two approved drugs so far, with a third under emergency use authorization review right now. These are the way out (with an eventual vaccine afterwards).
- nkozyra 6y agoBut again, nobody is arguing against that ideal scenario. You compared lockdowns to a bandaid, and I agree. We need bandaids sometimes until we get proper treatment.
- lbeltrame 6y agoGiven the rise of "zero covid" ideas, which are unfeasible in the long run or even medium term (even with New Zealand's success, all it takes is an error... and of course, we all make mistakes), some countries are mistaking lockdowns for treatments. OTOH, I'm not aware, at least in the EU (where I am located) of large pharmacological efforts sponsored by governments: most of the results have come, for good or bad, from the USA's Warp Speed or the UK. Yes, BNTech and CureVac are German, but they are exceptions, rather than the rule. It isn't even proven that lockdowns can actually save lives, although the last study touching this among a whole load of other risk factors (from U of Toronto) can be now considered old (data up to early May).