quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
So, will Trump force a pre-election approval before the safety data are in?


And what if he does? We've already seen polling data about wariness towards the vaccine. How would this effect it?

In previous surveys, people on the left were more open to the vaccine than people on the right. Surely Trump overruling scientists who then resign would cause a rethink on the left. Would people on the right who are more skeptical become less so?


If you zoom out far enough, true vaccine efficacy - creating herd immunity - is really the product of two numbers: the technical efficacy of the vaccine and people's confidence in it - i.e. the percentage of people who are willing to take it.

How much damage is he willing to do to that confidence number for a pre-election 'victory'? Will he even take the time to understand the tradeoff?

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
We've seen more than our usual fair share of medical professionals in recent weeks because of mr wtg's hip replacement surgery.

Just for grins, I've asked a number of them what they think about the vaccine situation. Almost all of them said that they feel like vaccine development is being rushed and they are concerned.

At least a third said they don't plan to be first in line for the initial vaccine. They just plan to wear a mask and hand wash like crazy.

I was pretty surprised.