4 ms·

See my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29885809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29885809 Completely novel direct health interventions

See my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29885809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29885809 Completely novel direct health interventions are in no way comparable to technological advances built on well understood foundations and methodologies for which a wealth of data exists.

coryfklein 5y ago
The Covid vaccine is hardly a “completely novel” health intervention, but rather it rests on a huge body of knowledge of the immune system and decades of vaccine science, does it not? Sure the process used for this particular vaccine was novel, but do you think it’s mechanism of action is so fundamentally different from other vaccines such that it is likely to have fundamentally different long-term outcomes?
- defaultprimate 5y ago
  >The Covid vaccine is hardly a “completely novel” It really is. Its mechanism of action is completely new and involves cell alterations and inducing protein synthesis that has never been done before and for which no long term data exists. >Sure the process used for this particular vaccine was novel, but do you think it’s mechanism of action is so fundamentally different from other vaccines such that it is likely to have fundamentally different long-term outcomes? I don't know, maybe it could, maybe it couldn't. The data proving otherwise doesn't exist. That's why I'm going to wait for the actual science to be done.
  - coryfklein 5y ago
    A few cursory searches tell me pretty quickly that mRNA vaccines have been in use and studied for decades, including for diseases such as the flu, rabies, Zika, and CMV. So it would be hard to call it "completely new". And those decades of study have not shown long term effects either. Which specific scientific evidence would you accept to change your opinion on this matter?
    - defaultprimate 5y ago
      They have been neither used nor studied in humans prior to COVID-19, save for once, for rabies, with 101 participants, and that study was concluded in 2018.

coryfklein 5y ago

The Covid vaccine is hardly a “completely novel” health intervention, but rather it rests on a huge body of knowledge of the immune system and decades of vaccine science, does it not? Sure the process used for this particular vaccine was novel, but do you think it’s mechanism of action is so fundamentally different from other vaccines such that it is likely to have fundamentally different long-term outcomes?

defaultprimate 5y ago
>The Covid vaccine is hardly a “completely novel” It really is. Its mechanism of action is completely new and involves cell alterations and inducing protein synthesis that has never been done before and for which no long term data exists. >Sure the process used for this particular vaccine was novel, but do you think it’s mechanism of action is so fundamentally different from other vaccines such that it is likely to have fundamentally different long-term outcomes? I don't know, maybe it could, maybe it couldn't. The data proving otherwise doesn't exist. That's why I'm going to wait for the actual science to be done.
- coryfklein 5y ago
  A few cursory searches tell me pretty quickly that mRNA vaccines have been in use and studied for decades, including for diseases such as the flu, rabies, Zika, and CMV. So it would be hard to call it "completely new". And those decades of study have not shown long term effects either. Which specific scientific evidence would you accept to change your opinion on this matter?
  - defaultprimate 5y ago
    They have been neither used nor studied in humans prior to COVID-19, save for once, for rabies, with 101 participants, and that study was concluded in 2018.