Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 766 posts

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#81

Post by dolgo »

b112 wrote: post #41
mns wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the entire subject is so politicised and polarised that even daring to ask a question that might go against the current might get you labeled as a right wing science denier racist (based on the country, different labels might apply). Edit: it's funny that the comment above gets downvoted just for asking a question. Great world we live in. We didn't learn anything from the past. Blaming and shaming gay people…

Yes, and this is a serious problem. It seems to be one camp or the other, blind fear or blind approval, with little room for thought. I honestly hate anti-vaxxers with incredible intensity now. Before they were an annoyance, now they have destroyed all intelligent discourse on this current topic. For logical concerns, another example is an earlier, mouse brain derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine. Pulled, due to sus…

Thank you for sharing your hate-filled story.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#82

Post by newguy1234 »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #46

Serious question: if you're a young person with no health issues, should you even get the vaccine?

Yes we basically need everyone to get it who is willing to get it because we want to eradicate as much of the virus in the population as possible.

Also as a society we need to encourage everyone to get the vaccine and do whatever possible to suppress anti-vaccine hysteria, you know the conspiracy theories are already going to go crazy over this I'm sure.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#83

Post by ijidak »

> It is a new type called an mRNA vaccine...An mRNA vaccine has never been approved for use in humans before, although people have received them in clinical trials.

Wait... This doesn't scare anybody?

Why has this not been approved before?

Would an mRNA vaccine be approved under less pressing circumstances...?

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#85

Post by modeless »

apsec112 wrote: post #63
modeless wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been almost two weeks. That's more than enough time to read thousands of pages if they are literally the most important thousands of pages in the world right now.

What makes you so confident? If someone gave you the source code to a major software project, even with a large team of highly qualified engineers working as fast as they could, how long would it take to read over the entire thing and be absolutely sure that there were no serious mistakes?

Well for starters, it would be stupid to pipeline the process so that nobody could start reviewing the code until after it was done. Secondly, I don't believe it's a valid analogy because the process of reviewing clinical trial evidence is not similar to the process of reviewing executable code. Thirdly, there is no amount of review that guarantees a lack of mistakes, so it's simply a question of risk tolerance which you have to balance against the harm of delay.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#86

Post by refurb »

ealexhudson wrote: post #13
_Microft wrote: post #5

How did they approve it that fast? Is the approval process so different and so much more efficient than the one in the EU or USA? Was it extremely rushed to make sure to get doses before they have to compete with other countries for limited supply? I'm pretty curious now. Let's hope for the best, i.e. a good vaccine, a good process and no trust problems, the latter because at least it feels rushed.

It hasn't been approved esp faster than anywhere else - it's just the first out the gate. The regulators have had the data for a while now, you'll see steady approvals over the next couple weeks. The only danger sign I would foresee that would indicate a rush is if some regulator declines to approve emergency use - but given the data that seems highly unlikely.

The regulators have had the data for a while now

They've had some of the data for a while. Pfizer didn't finish their analysis of the Phase 3 data until close to their EUA submission on Nov 20th.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#87

Post by Arkhaine_kupo »

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #34
Arkhaine_kupo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthy skepticism belong in peer-reviews, in revisions of medical journals. Skepticism in the public space fosters anti-vaccine sentiments, adds to the already growing anti-vax movements and puts in risk the vulnerable in our society as they require shielding and for the rest of us to do our part.

I find your perspective extremely disturbing, and believe it empowers anti-vaxxers more than anything else.

How could it possibly empower anti vaxxers to say to trust healthcare professionals, doctors and the worlds leading security and safety experts?

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#88

Post by polytely »

modeless wrote: post #54
apsec112 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the FDA approval will probably follow in eight days (December 10th). I'd guess the UK just has the edge on administrative efficiency.

Pfizer concluded their trial and filed for approval with the FDA almost two weeks ago. People are dying. Why is it not approved yet?

It is of vital importance that the majority of people feel safe taking the vaccine, because you need herd immunity. If people have doubts that it has been correctly vetted they will be reluctant to get vaccinated which makes the whole investment in the vaccines pointless.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#89

Post by headmelted »

shusson wrote: post #71

Out of curiosity, how do people on HN rate the risk of long term side-effects?

That's a question for someone who's heavily schooled on mRNA vaccines and/or a practitioner involved in the trials for this particular vaccine.

Not that I have a problem with your asking the question, I just don't think an opinion poll on a tech board is going to yield an accurate prediction of what to expect.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#90

Post by Toenex »

jakozaur wrote: post #19

In terms of rollout. UK is the ideal country to be the first: 1. Heavily impacted by Covid-19. 2. Centralised health care system makes it easier to compare results and efficiency. E.g. it's UK which figured out that dexamethasone is efficient against Covid https://www.who.int/news/item/16-06-2020-who-welcomes-prelim... 3. Developed country with great logistics.

I suspect the bulk of the population will receive the 'Oxford' vaccine. It's still going through the approval process but the UK has ordered more of it. I believe the Pfizer vaccine is targeted to front line workers and the clinical vulnerable.
Post reply on HN