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> If the Moderna one had been released in March 2020 and injected in millions of people and then they all got sick anyway, it would have been a disaster. Why w
by dcolkitt 6y ago
> If the Moderna one had been released in March 2020 and injected in millions of people and then they all got sick anyway, it would have been a disaster.
Why would that be a disaster? If a bunch of people get injected with a placebo, it's at worse neutral. Arguably it's better, because we'll collect data faster and move on to better vaccines.
- AuryGlenz 6y agoVaccines can have negative side effects, some of which take a while to show up. Can you imagine how much trust would be lost in vaccines if there were some serious side effects that started showing up months later? It would be a disaster that would ultimately kill way more people than the coronavirus.
- selimthegrim 6y agoThe Australian vaccine candidate in trials was giving HIV false positives. Imagine that but at scale
- runako 6y ago> If a bunch of people get injected with a placebo, it's at worse neutral. If they think they got a functional vaccine and change their behavior as a result, a placebo has the potential to do untold harm all by itself. Further, it erodes loss of confidence so that when a working vaccine is discovered, it's even harder to get people to take it. The FDA has faults, but when you look at people's objections it boils down to erring on the side of being too safe. How much trust would a regulator have if it erred on the side of being too unsafe?