3 ms·
Maybe a stupid question: Is this the standard measurement of effectiveness? I.e. you give the control group a dummy vaccine, the test group the real vaccine, an
by dry_soup 6y ago
Maybe a stupid question: Is this the standard measurement of effectiveness? I.e. you give the control group a dummy vaccine, the test group the real vaccine, and you just wait for them to be infected? Why not test for antibody development?
- mansr 6y agoVerifying the expected immune response (antibodies) is (part of) phases 1 and 2, if I've understood things correctly.
- DiogenesKynikos 6y agoExactly. It's a good sign if people develop antibodies, but that does not ensure protection. As I understand it, it is difficult to predict, in advance of actual testing, what immune response will actually be protective.
- dry_soup 6y agoI see, thanks!
- bewaretheirs 6y agoThe immune system is complex and has multiple mechanisms to recognize and attack pathogens; besides antibodies I've seen mention of multiple types of T-cells and also there's apparently a dimension of mucosal immunity vs. systemic immunity. Antibodies are easy to test for (the chemistry required can be put into mass-produced home test kits), while it's more difficult to test for other responses (a recent long-term study of covid-19 T-cell response was with only ~100 subjects). A hypothetical vaccine that produced a meh antibody response but mobilized the T-cell or mucosal systems could be effective at preventing the disease but not look like much on an antibody screen.