12-12-2020, 01:19 PM
I'm in the vaccine friendly crowd by getting the flu shot every year but I'm a bit hesitate about getting one for Covid-19. The reason: read Moderna's (or another's) Phase III results report. Health officials jumped on the chance of saying the vaccine has a 95% or better effectiveness but what they are not saying is just how well the placebo did as well.
Moderna's Phase III study comprised of 30,000 people of which half got the vaccine and half the placebo. Of the placebo group, 90 people got covid and 11 of them were seriously ill. The vaccine group had only a few getting covid while none were seriously ill. Health officials were excited and jumped all over that saying the vaccine was hugely successful and let's distribute to everyone but what about the placebo?
I'm not really considered with the 90 people getting better on their own (much like a normal cold/flu) but instead I'm focusing on the 11 that were seriously ill. Again, that's only 11 out of 15,000 people who needed help against covid. That's pretty good isn't? I mean, they just got salt-water as an injection and only a mere 11 out of 15,000 were seriously ill from covid during that period.
What does that mean for the Phase III study that health officials aren't saying? That the placebo did nearly was well as the vaccine. Having 11 out of 15,000 is well within the margin of error of doing any study. For example, if those 11 people stayed at home more often rather than going out and mingle, they may not have gotten sick with covid at all which would have made the placebo group just as effective as the vaccine with zero people going to the hospital.
Health officials aren't saying that part of the study. They're just jumping on the fact that 0 people who got the vaccine got seriously sick. I think the President should call the deployment of the vaccine, Operation Margin of Error, because that's about how much the nation would benefit if everyone got the vaccine (according to the Phase III results). And I'm saying this as a vaccine friendly guy who gets the flu shot every year, I can't imagine what the non-friendly vaccine types say about this if they paid attention to the medical reports.
But what do I know, I'm just a computer programmer smuck...
Moderna's Phase III study comprised of 30,000 people of which half got the vaccine and half the placebo. Of the placebo group, 90 people got covid and 11 of them were seriously ill. The vaccine group had only a few getting covid while none were seriously ill. Health officials were excited and jumped all over that saying the vaccine was hugely successful and let's distribute to everyone but what about the placebo?
I'm not really considered with the 90 people getting better on their own (much like a normal cold/flu) but instead I'm focusing on the 11 that were seriously ill. Again, that's only 11 out of 15,000 people who needed help against covid. That's pretty good isn't? I mean, they just got salt-water as an injection and only a mere 11 out of 15,000 were seriously ill from covid during that period.
What does that mean for the Phase III study that health officials aren't saying? That the placebo did nearly was well as the vaccine. Having 11 out of 15,000 is well within the margin of error of doing any study. For example, if those 11 people stayed at home more often rather than going out and mingle, they may not have gotten sick with covid at all which would have made the placebo group just as effective as the vaccine with zero people going to the hospital.
Health officials aren't saying that part of the study. They're just jumping on the fact that 0 people who got the vaccine got seriously sick. I think the President should call the deployment of the vaccine, Operation Margin of Error, because that's about how much the nation would benefit if everyone got the vaccine (according to the Phase III results). And I'm saying this as a vaccine friendly guy who gets the flu shot every year, I can't imagine what the non-friendly vaccine types say about this if they paid attention to the medical reports.
But what do I know, I'm just a computer programmer smuck...