It makes a lot of sense to consider all of the options, but it must be done with proper scientific controls and protocols. In my experience, many drug dosages in the US are more than double what is prescribed in European countries with US patients experiencing significantly higher levels of side effects with no additional medical advantage (and, of course, it costs more.) That said, I noticed that the half doses are being touted as good for 18 - 55 year-olds. If states are vaccinating by age, co-morbidities, and medical employment, then the numbers of people this would be applied to is probably no more than 20% of the population, and that 20% is currently at the back of the line with regard to getting vaccinated. So not sure what they think this would do for them.
FDA Says Suggestion To Halve Moderna Vaccine ‘Not Rooted’ In Available Science | Talking Points Memo
Gee, I wonder where the fucktwit got that idea? /s
I also wonder how someone can get a degree in pharmacology and NOT understand how cells work. Perhaps it’s time to look into the certification of certain educational institutions.
I say we put a drop of the vaccine into a gallon of water, then put drops of that gallon into as many other gallons as it takes to use up all of that first gallon, then keep on repeating the process until we have enough to vaccinate the entire country.
I think the best place to look is his browsing history and social media posts.
Not only is it “Not rooted in existing science”, it ignores the science and experience that we have with other vaccines, the Diptheria-Tetanus-Pertussis vaccine for one. In the 1980s, when public suspicion of that vaccine was high, several alterations to the administration course were suggested by practitioners, published and widely adopted by other practitioners. No surprise: when looked at systematically, either reducing the dose, or lengthening the interval between them, measurably decreased protection. Likewise, the subsequent redesign of the vaccine, to make it ‘purer’ and reduce its uncomfortable side effects, has made the vaccine less effective and is largely responsible for the rise in Pertussis over he ast 20 years. Shooting off your mouth with a suggestion, doesn’t mean it has any validity, but it can confuse public policy and even medical practice, when the opinion follows emotion and impulse, instead of science.
I’m glad they shot it down. There was no evidence to back it up. Sure it could work on some people but, you needs trials to prove it. Same with the UK plan to give 1 full dose and delay the 2nd dose beyond 1 month.
Only half of it.
Hey, if it’s good enough for all those senior citizens struggling to make ends meet, it should be good enough for the general public!
… he is not a clinician - he is a researcher - but he has been around long enough to know better
So, it is truly stunning that he was just spit-balling an (unauthorized) “innovative” treatment approach on national news shows … without recognition of the regulatory process ramafications -
especially since this is an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) situation.
He is supposed to be smarter than this … however the “supposed to be smarter” folks can often really bite you in the ass … have seen too many clinical study surgeons totally FUBAR a study because they come up with some “genius idea” and change how they are conducting the study - because they think it is “better”…
“Genuis Idea” = a deviation from the study protocol … AKA “Protocol Violation” … = invalid data … little deviations may just screw up the data from that study site … grotesque violations (depending on how bad) can blow up the whole study … and really piss off the FDA … do it really big … might even earn a warning letter … or worse …
What is the intersection between homeopaths and antivaxxers?
That is a marvelous diagram.
And as for the question from @occamscoin, “anti-vaxxers” should be a set entirely within Woo, partially overlapping the two Homeopathy sets.
Edit: But not, or just barely, intersecting with the 19th-century medicine set, because inoculation against smallpox was known back then.
I figured there had to be a Venn diagram for homeopathy, and that was the best one I found. Anti-vaxxers, of course, are located in the circle of Woo.
“
Genuis Idea” = a deviation from the study protocol … AKA “Protocol Violation” … = invalid data … little deviations may just screw up the data from that study site … grotesque violations (depending on how bad) can blow up the whole study … and really piss off the FDA … do it really big … might even earn a warning letter … or worse …
“or worse” means your funding just got eliminated because you just turned in a non-repeatable study to your peers.
ETA: it really pisses them off to have to wade through a non-viable study that comes to nothing.
We had to expect this ploy would be recommended by some administration shill at some point. This is the same Republican Party that has long endorsed the idea that reality is whatever they say it is. As I recall, this was a Carl Rove maxim that we first heard from the Bush II administration.
Science and evidence are subordinate to poltitics in their world.
The worst violations, imo, are the ones based on the assumption that the treatment (whatever it is) works, and thus should be done (or done more) to the people who “really need it”. If you’re lucky you might be able to adjust some of the stupid back out of the stats, but don’t bet on it.
a top Trump administration vaccine official who proposed halving doses of the Moderna vaccine.
By all means, let’s make a super stronger and new vaccine-resistant strain of this minor head cold-like virus.
What a great name.
And give nuts the “They put something in our water supply!” excuse to destroy our water/sewage pipelines?
Several decades ago I had to wade through a paper stating that people with ‘wet’ ear wax were more prone to cancer. I thought it belonged in the trash can, months later I saw it in a less than honorable science journal. These stupid assumptions just can’t pass for science.