[blub]

Another big reason why the vaccine orders were delayed in the EU was that many governments were unconvinced about mRNA vaccines and wanted a classical vaccine. So your family's in good company there.

They're also right that we don't know what the side-effects are. We're reasonably sure that there are no long-term damaging effects and know that the current crisis justifies the risk of using this new form of vaccine.

[luckylion]

> Another big reason why the vaccine orders were delayed in the EU was that many governments were unconvinced about mRNA vaccines and wanted a classical vaccine.

Which is a weird stance in my opinion. Even if you're skeptical about safety and effectiveness, not ordering them as soon as they're available makes little sense. Yes, it costs money, but significantly less than locking down for a week or two.

It felt a bit like "let's not invest in a backup system yet, we don't know whether we'll need it".

[blub]

I think price + unproven was a big concern for the less wealthy countries.

One has to keep in mind with the EU that we tried our best to avoid splitting the continent into winners and losers based on which countries were the wealthiest. Unfortunately we ended up being on the losing side together, but the driving idea wasn't wrong. :-)

It was also not wrong to want to do a complete instead of emergency certification of the vaccine or pressing e.g. Pfizer to take responsibility for unwanted side-effects. Other countries risked more and it seems that they were favoured by fortune.

[hef19898]

To be fair, even the mRNA manufacturers weren't that optimistic a year ago. Their development speed and efficacy are pleasant surprise.