> Although this virus has killed many, the risk factor for it is nowhere near high enough to warrant an emergency vaccine.
I strongly disagree with this sentiment. In the ideal world we would have both a treatment and a vaccine, but a vaccine is much preferable: even if it grants immunity for only a year it still allows for better logistics than a treatment. A treatment is also an unknown cost while the cost of producing a vaccine is fairly well know. Also there are loads of people who are at high risk and cannot survive COVID if they got it. Herd immunity and actual immunity from a vaccine is their only option for staying alive. Lastly, your comment makes it sound like steps are being skipped here. They are not. This vaccine along with others is undergoing the same three phase study approach as any other candidate for any other virus. The difference is that sometimes phase 1 and 2 are combined which puts the people in those trials at risk, but based on your comment I don’t see that as being one of your concerns (based on the part about how well yeah a lot of people died but it doesn’t warrant an emergency vaccine). It does not cause risk to anyone else and for successful phase 1 & 2 trials you can assume the vaccine is safe for the populations tested in phase 3. Once all three are cleared, the vaccine is just as safe as any other.
I know to a lot of people it may feel like corners are being cut but I have seen zero evidence for that. We are saving time by doing things like combining phase 1 & 2, expediting review and paperwork by prioritizing these candidates over other drugs, and in this particular case by manufacturing the vaccine while it’s still in trials, gambling that it will actually work. So far the Oxford vaccine looks to be the most promising of all so I would say it’s a good gamble, but then again only a small portion of that $1.2b is mine (coming from US tax dollars and AstraZenica coffers).
A true emergency vaccine is the only one that’s currently approved for use: it’s been approved as an experimental vaccine by the Chinese military for use by the military for one year. That particular vaccine doesn’t have phase 2 or 3 results actually published and the preliminary data from phase 2 doesn’t look as good as the Oxford one. That is the kind of thing I would personally hold off on, but not something that’s gone through all three phases and been independently reviewed.
I strongly disagree with this sentiment. In the ideal world we would have both a treatment and a vaccine, but a vaccine is much preferable: even if it grants immunity for only a year it still allows for better logistics than a treatment. A treatment is also an unknown cost while the cost of producing a vaccine is fairly well know. Also there are loads of people who are at high risk and cannot survive COVID if they got it. Herd immunity and actual immunity from a vaccine is their only option for staying alive. Lastly, your comment makes it sound like steps are being skipped here. They are not. This vaccine along with others is undergoing the same three phase study approach as any other candidate for any other virus. The difference is that sometimes phase 1 and 2 are combined which puts the people in those trials at risk, but based on your comment I don’t see that as being one of your concerns (based on the part about how well yeah a lot of people died but it doesn’t warrant an emergency vaccine). It does not cause risk to anyone else and for successful phase 1 & 2 trials you can assume the vaccine is safe for the populations tested in phase 3. Once all three are cleared, the vaccine is just as safe as any other.
I know to a lot of people it may feel like corners are being cut but I have seen zero evidence for that. We are saving time by doing things like combining phase 1 & 2, expediting review and paperwork by prioritizing these candidates over other drugs, and in this particular case by manufacturing the vaccine while it’s still in trials, gambling that it will actually work. So far the Oxford vaccine looks to be the most promising of all so I would say it’s a good gamble, but then again only a small portion of that $1.2b is mine (coming from US tax dollars and AstraZenica coffers).
A true emergency vaccine is the only one that’s currently approved for use: it’s been approved as an experimental vaccine by the Chinese military for use by the military for one year. That particular vaccine doesn’t have phase 2 or 3 results actually published and the preliminary data from phase 2 doesn’t look as good as the Oxford one. That is the kind of thing I would personally hold off on, but not something that’s gone through all three phases and been independently reviewed.