I disagree. Without weighing in on the merits of each strategy too much, I think there is/was a case to be made for each. Also, as you say, consensus did shift

I disagree. Without weighing in on the merits of each strategy too much, I think there is/was a case to be made for each. Also, as you say, consensus did shift. It wasn't a totally fixed mindset. In any case, a decision had to be made. There were always going to be dissidents with a case, regardless of the decision. I don't think the problem is actually a decision making problem. The 2021 problem is that we're handling disagreements poorly. Whichever decision got made, there would be some dissent. If you're in a dissident "First Doses First" camp, the other camp is corrupt, pigheaded pseudoscientific bastards that need to go back to school and learn how to think. If/when "the establishment" comes around to your thinking, it's just more proof of this... this article is a case in point. The establishment side (2 doses, in this case), feels obliged to defend their position, often over defending, making things worse. It quickly devolves into rivalrous rage, both trying to delegitimize the other. Laying piles of bodies at each others' feet. Ad hominems. Accusations of quackery,misinformation and attempts to shut the other up. You end up here regardless of the decision taken. All roads seem to lead here atm. >"This is evidence of what I call magical thinking–an undue focus on the clinical trial design as having incantatory power" Sheesh! Magical thinking... Incantatory power? What earns the FDA these insults? In December, they're rolling out two-shot strategy, conforming to the clinical trial design. There is some reason to think that a one-shot first might work better. The "right" answer is complicated, (a) it depends on unknowns that'd need more clinical trials to learn and (b) it depends even more on execution issues related to vaccinated hundreds of millions of people. Different, hard to quantify risks involved in each strategy. Two-three months later, they're have a one-shot strategy as well. Presumably, this has been in the works for the entire period. Meanwhile, Alex makes them out to be witches trying to cure covid with willow bark. It's grossly unfair. Maybe they were wrong and you were right, but Magical thinking & Incantatory powers... that is vitriolic bullshit.