5 ms·
This is the beauty of randomization and blinding. Because both the participants and the doctors (the ‘double’ in double blind) don’t know who got the vaccine or
by joshgel 6y ago
This is the beauty of randomization and blinding. Because both the participants and the doctors (the ‘double’ in double blind) don’t know who got the vaccine or placebo, anything you tell them to do is told equally to both sides. You can’t alter the trajectory of one group over the other because you don’t know the groups.
- sokoloff 6y agoA close friend of mine is in one of the double-blind trials here in the US. He experienced symptoms 36-48 hours after the injection that have him convinced that he got an active vaccine dose. He has (by my judgment not his words) altered his routines as a result. That seems a mechanism by which the blinding can be undone (though in this case, it would seem to work against computed vaccine efficacy rather than for it).
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoYeah, ideally you'd use an active placebo (same side effects as the active drug) but that's hard to do well and presumably wasn't a priority.
- tim333 6y agoFor at least some of the Oxford trials they used a "widely available meningitis vaccine."