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by m-p-3 1914 days ago
I'm glad we got vaccines out so quickly, but I can see why some people ask about their safety as it never happened so quickly in the past and mRNA at such a large scale is unheard of.

Unfortunately, the anti-vax crowd will use any means necessary to discredit vaccines, and scepticism is part of their toolkit.
1 comments
xiphias2 1914 days ago
It's not just skeptism: I didn't like the ,,1 and half dose'' and other bullshit that AstraZeneca did in their Phase 3 to not have proper testing on old people. There is a reason why the data was not good enough for the FDA to approve it, it seemed like the AstraZeneca Phase 3 testing was rushed and on a level that would be unacceptable if there wasn't a pandemic.

Even in their announcements AstraZeneca seems like trying to hide the problems instead of giving a balanced view of the (probably small) risks.

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kcartlidge 1914 days ago
> it seemed like the AstraZeneca Phase 3 testing was rushed and on a level that would be unacceptable if there wasn't a pandemic

I didn't like the lack of data on the older populations, either, and totally get why various regulators decided they wanted more such before going forward with it (given that the AZ one is based on known vaccine tech I'd have trusted it anyway, but that's a personal choice).

However the lack of data in the older population was not due to rushing (though it was rushed, obviously). They started pretty early on before much was known about the medical aspects of Covid-19 and took the deliberate decision not to risk people with age-reduced immune systems at the start.

Yes, that wasn't helpful, but you could also argue it was pretty good ethically and morally so it's hard really to fault them for it.

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xiphias2 1914 days ago
That's totally fine, but they could have finished the Phase-3 testing for old people, or at least offer alternative vaccines if the measured immune reaction is too small.

Right now my parents are opting waiting 1-2 months more for the Pfizer/Moderna vaccines, because after they decide on a vaccine, even if the antigen count in their blood is small, it doesn't give them the right for another vaccine (in UAE the government provides a 3rd dose of Sinopharm for people with small immune response).

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maxerickson 1914 days ago
The FDA requires their own trials, there was no after the fact decision to not use the other data, they just never considered it.

It's likely they'll issue an EUA for the AstraZeneca vaccine based on the US trial results in a couple weeks here.

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