5 ms·

It’s important to be clear here—these “severe” side effects are not life-threatening. We’re talking about a really bad headache or bout of diarrhea. Unpleasan

It’s important to be clear here—these “severe” side effects are not life-threatening. We’re talking about a really bad headache or bout of diarrhea. Unpleasant, for sure, but not likely to have any long-term consequences. As a parent, I’m ok with those odds even if my kids don’t get much direct benefit. Contributing to reduced community transmission is worth it.

timr 5y ago
Well, 0.4% of trial participants actually did have life-threatening reactions, so there's that. The risk is small, but not zero. As far as mild side-effects go, another way of putting it is that at least as many kids will experience side effects from the vaccine as from Covid itself. ...and millions of kids are going to get this vaccine in the coming months.
- pfg 5y ago
  My understanding is that Serious Adverse Events are not necessarily reactions that can easily be attributed to the vaccine (unlike a headache occurring soon after the vaccination), so we have to check whether these results are statistically significant and/or whether any patterns can be found in terms of what these events actually are. I don't think 0.4% vs. 0.1% with n=1127 is significant, and the study mentions no patterns were observed. We still have systems like VAERS to ensure side-effects that are too rare to be caught by a study of this size still get caught.
- pseudalopex 5y ago
  A serious adverse event doesn't have to be life threatening.[1] The difference between groups wasn't statistically significant. And there was no pattern either. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27114261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27114261
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
TedPetrou 5y ago
Did you see all of the side effects from the vaccine vs the placebo? Here it is in percentages: * Redness 5.8 vs 1.1 * Swelling 6.9 vs 1 * Pain 86 vs 23 * Fever 10 vs 1 * Fatigue 60 vs 46 * Headache 55 vs 35 * Chills 28 vs 10 * Vomiting 3 vs 1 * Use of pain med 37 vs 10 Only 1100 kids in the study and only 660 of them were followed up at least 2 months after the 2nd dose. These numbers seem unreasonably low. This means that hundreds of kids had worse reactions than the placebo. All of this to prevent 11 symptomatic cases. I couldn't find the prognosis of these 11 symptomatic cases, but its highly likely that all of them were mild. To me, it seems like the overall health and well being of the vaccinated group was less than the placebo.

timr 5y ago

Well, 0.4% of trial participants actually did have life-threatening reactions, so there's that. The risk is small, but not zero. As far as mild side-effects go, another way of putting it is that at least as many kids will experience side effects from the vaccine as from Covid itself. ...and millions of kids are going to get this vaccine in the coming months.

pfg 5y ago
My understanding is that Serious Adverse Events are not necessarily reactions that can easily be attributed to the vaccine (unlike a headache occurring soon after the vaccination), so we have to check whether these results are statistically significant and/or whether any patterns can be found in terms of what these events actually are. I don't think 0.4% vs. 0.1% with n=1127 is significant, and the study mentions no patterns were observed. We still have systems like VAERS to ensure side-effects that are too rare to be caught by a study of this size still get caught.
pseudalopex 5y ago
A serious adverse event doesn't have to be life threatening.[1] The difference between groups wasn't statistically significant. And there was no pattern either. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27114261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27114261
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

TedPetrou 5y ago

Did you see all of the side effects from the vaccine vs the placebo? Here it is in percentages: * Redness 5.8 vs 1.1 * Swelling 6.9 vs 1 * Pain 86 vs 23 * Fever 10 vs 1 * Fatigue 60 vs 46 * Headache 55 vs 35 * Chills 28 vs 10 * Vomiting 3 vs 1 * Use of pain med 37 vs 10 Only 1100 kids in the study and only 660 of them were followed up at least 2 months after the 2nd dose. These numbers seem unreasonably low. This means that hundreds of kids had worse reactions than the placebo. All of this to prevent 11 symptomatic cases. I couldn't find the prognosis of these 11 symptomatic cases, but its highly likely that all of them were mild. To me, it seems like the overall health and well being of the vaccinated group was less than the placebo.