You can take mine. Keep me posted. I’m interested.
Your results will affect when I might reconsider.
What does that 94% equate to in terms of immediate side and longer term effects?
No one has any idea. Not Moderna, nor anyone else. Whenever I see these effectiveness numbers in headlines? Feels just like a big pharma TV ad-- without the accompanying half-whispered side effects boilerplate. We don’t read about it-- because they really don’t know.
“Sullen 12 year old”
I told dad I wanted to be a Libertarian when I grew up but he said I couldn’t do both.
I didn’t say “two or three weeks from now,” or even “two or three weeks from when they start vaccinating people.”
Thanks for quality expert data–always at a premium.
Old blog post:
I don’t expect that people in my demographic will get the vaccine until May-June, so my plans include masks and limiting activities until then. That said, I hope that one of the actions that the Biden folks take include a massive public education campaign on the vaccine. I’m concerned about the people who will believe that they are immediately protected and that there is no need for the second dose. Then, when any of them still become ill, their new argument will be that the vaccine doesn’t work (remember the “my uncle wasn’t wearing a seat belt and they said that if he’d been wearing it he would have been killed” stories).
One of the local Sunday AM news programs has a Dem and a GOPer discussing the news issues of the day (and they give them as much as 30 seconds for a considered explanation or response, so you know it’s high quality discussion). Yesterday one of them said something that is terrifying: that the state Legislature and the Executive branch need to be part of the discussion about who gets the vaccine when. Most of our Legislature doesn’t think we need to limit our activities or wear masks, so I’m really wary of what they might think was an appropriate plan for managing the vaccine.
And of course, you need to balance the possible side effects against the known, and unknown, long-term side effects of a Covid-19 infection. Like death, for example.
Drug makers are required to mention all of the possible side effects, even when they can’t actually be traced to the medication, and even if the occurrence is vanishingly small. “I took Zovuvazz, and had a heart attack.” You might have had the heart attack anyway. But even if that happens with one person in the trials, they have to list it as a possible side effect. “May increase risk of heart attack.”
My baby brother who is scientist in the field also works for Sanofi Pasteur in Connecticut. That particular company has been in the business of making and manufacturing vaccines for over a hundred years where the company began in France. They used to be the largest vaccine maker in the world. I don’t know if they still are though.
They are working on a different type of vaccine that affects the protein spikes on the virus molecule. I haven’t asked him about what he thinks about the new vaccines but I plan to at some point. He’s been extremely busy though. Early on he shared this with me which I posted awhile ago here just for general knowledge purposes:
My brother also recently took a job up in Massachusetts. They’re working on a different process of manufacturing mRNA which will take time and won’t be ready until the middle to late 2021…so the work continues to add or perfect what is already in the pipeline. The Pfizer and Moderna are the early one’s out of the gate but they may not be the only ones as many labs around the country, even around the world, are still working on vaccines. The obvious problem with the early vaccines is that they currently require two doses and follow-up will be imperative.
I wish I understood all of this stuff better but it does help when he sends me some information at least to keep me informed. It makes me feel more hopeful at least.
To the MAGA-antivaxxers coming our way.
You are free to choose to not accept any medical treatment.
This does not mean that you get exceptions from public health laws…
If your children are denied physical access to school/college because they didn’t get vaccinated,
This doesn’t mean that your child is entitled to public money to attend private schools.
There is no Constitutional Rights being trampled on. There is no War on -fill in the blank-.
This does mean that your choice has repercussions for both your family and your community.
You are alone in your responsibility and fallout for your choice.
If you don’t like the outcome of your choice, you are free to reconsider your options and change your mind.
If you’re a “side effect” freak just don’t get it.
It’s well past time we have a neutral third party conduct clinical trials, not the drug companies who have every incentive to manipulate results via screening of participants in the trials. Pfizer was busted in 2008 for manipulating data in a clinical trial. This vaccine has huge dollar amounts at stake, I prefer to have an independent source look at their numbers and verify them. Better yet take the large clinical trails out of the control of the drug companies. The FDA is staffed with drug company alumini, they are not totally impartial.
They passed remdesivir as a treatment for C-19 when the WHO conducted large trials and found it not to be effective for treating C-19.
The “side effect” that most concerns me is immunity to COVID. I like it. Lets not do the side effect thing before we know what we’re talking about. People have to be alive to suffer a side effect and that’s what were after.
Someday you should try RTFA:
WHAT COMES NEXT
The FDA has pledged that before it decides to roll out any COVID-19 vaccines, its scientific advisers will publicly debate whether there’s enough evidence behind each candidate.
First up on Dec. 10, Pfizer and BioNTech will present data suggesting their vaccine candidate is 95% effective. Moderna said its turn at this “science court” is expected exactly a week later, on Dec. 17.
Honestly, when I saw one of the doctors that has a regular gig on MSNBC trying to sell the public on the vaccine on Dr. Oz’s show a week or so ago, and testify as to its effectiveness, that’s when my hackles went up. Dr. Oz is a quack that was busted I believe for trying to sell the public on quack cures himself in the past. I guess maybe that’s the way for this doctor to reach the wider public but did he really have to do it on that guy’s show? Its like going on a Larry King commercial these days, ffs.
Plus, I do want to hear about how it is being peer reviewed and not just a few TV doctors testifying to whatever data the company is providing up to this point. Maybe its all OK, but there are still many questions to be asked if something goes wrong. The fast-track ability to have it out there must mean that some things are being done differently for approval I would think. May I add…I’m by no means an anti-vaxxer. I’m up-to-date on all the required vaccines as I made sure to have my kid get his throughout his growing up and beyond.
I’m pretty sure Wyeth said the same thing about fen-phen. The FDA approved it based on clinical trial data provided by the drug maker. Drug companies can manipulate trial outcomes by simply screening the participants in their trials. And they have been known to bury data that isn’t positive.
Boy, the anti-science disease has spread further than I thought it had.
No. When they say it’s 95% effective they mean that 19 out of 20 who get vaccinated will be totally immune. If you get vaccinated you reduce your risk of infection by a factor of 20 no matter what you do.
Once I get vaccinated and I’ve given it enough time to have it’s affect (2 weeks after the second dose) I will still wear a mask and distance, but I will also go to restaurants, ride public transportation, and fly on an airplane - all things I would never do now.
No, that’s not really what it means. It means that if you’ve been vaccinated, and you’re exposed to the virus 1000 times, you’ll be able to shuck it off 950 times. So why do vaccines work? Because if everyone gets vaccinated, your chances of being exposed to the virus at all drop like a rock. You won’t encounter enough infected people for that 5% risk to amount to anything.
― John Rogers
I’m not anti science. Quite the contrary. I just don’t trust all claims by drug companies that have a huge financial stake in their product. The FDA has a poor track record and in the past members have traded on insider information. There was also study on how often doctors prescribed newer expensive antibiotics after attending dinners and get away seminars provided by the manufacturer of those drugs. Google it.
What, a miracle drug produced by a company who has a track record of zero prior drug approvals?
What’s possibly at all concerning about that?