2 ms·
I understand how it could be unethical, though I'd be more confident in a study that had purposeful exposure - how can we say the vaccine really was the means o
by mssundaram 6y ago
I understand how it could be unethical, though I'd be more confident in a study that had purposeful exposure - how can we say the vaccine really was the means of protection, and not just the current measures?
- zeroimpl 6y agoThat's precisely why there is a control group.
- mssundaram 6y agoAnd that's what I mean, the control group may be avoiding exposure altogether.
- easde 6y agoThe study compares how many people in the experimental group and control group develop symptomatic COVID-19. In this case 11 people in the experimental group developed COVID-19 versus 185 in the control group. Thus the vaccine is approximately 185 / (185 + 11) = 94% effective, assuming both groups behaved similarly. If the control group intentionally avoided exposure more than the experimental group, then the vaccine is even more effective than the study result. This is a blinded study though, so participants don't know which group they're in unless they go out of their way to find out (eg. taking an antibody test).