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while it’s great to hear some good news re: the development of a vaccine, I am super wary about people believing this to be a magic bullet and subsequently finding out it’s not, leading to a general uptick in people becoming anti-vaccine, and here’s why
while 90% effectiveness is great, there hasn’t yet been any analysis of how long the immunity conferred by the vaccine actually lasts. We don’t know if it needs to be ‘topped up’, or even if it can be, or if/when that would need to happen
while the tests results are positive, they haven’t tested it on a wide range of demographics, & this matters.
most medical trials are conducted on white, healthy men in young - middle age. We already know that this causes issues for people who don’t fit that demographic
most medical trials are conducted on white, healthy men in young - middle age. We already know that this causes issues for people who don’t fit that demographic
this particularly matters for women, since we tend to respond differently to drugs safely approved in trials where only men are tested (Doing Harm by Maya Dusenberry is a great book on the lack of health equity for women & particularly at the research stage)
outside of any of these concerns, the vaccine needs to be stored at -80 degrees. This will cause *so many issues* in distribution and it will be SLOW when it finally is rolled out, because safety and effectiveness will need to be paramount
so, while a vaccine is good news, I’d really like to remind everyone that rushing through a vaccine is never a good thing. People are (sadly) already wary of them, & if we keep reporting this one as as a panacea & it turns out not to be, anti-vaccine sentiment is inevitable
It will probably still be a while before we can viably roll out an adequately tested, safe, effective, & easily distributable vaccine nationwide. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but please be wary of news reports that present this as The Solution to the Pandemic
The last thing we want is to give false hope about miracle vaccines, have something go wrong because everyone got over excited, and end up with a massive raft of anti-vaccine sentiment as a result.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
addendum: i have no reason to believe that the folks doing the testing haven’t considered these things. I’m sure they are & will. what I’m worried about is overly optimistic reporting in the news & unrealistic statements from govt, that may make the vaccine seem closer than it is
