Poll: Will you take the Covid vaccine?

You're correct in principle, but when weighing the "unknown long term risks" of a vaccine versus the "unknown long term risks" of COVID itself it really needs to be an apple to apples comparison.

We know both the virus and the vaccine will be out of your system within a short period of time. So any long term effects would have to be derived from what happens while they're in your system. The vaccine generates a few proteins, which your immune system learns to fight off in short order. The virus generates similar proteins, but continues to replicate many times over, attacking your cells and triggering a much more severe immune response as it goes.

So while there are unknown long-term risks for both, I think it is pretty safe to say the number of vectors for long term consequences are much more numerous with the virus.

Interesting. Didn't know at all. It seems like "common knowledge" here in Sweden.

The CDC report isn't mentioned here by the way but should be (in case someone reading this is versed in Wikipedia editing): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemrix#Adverse_outcomes

This is great news anyway and definitely something I will tell people worried about the vaccine so thanks!

It doesn't need to be approved to be used, and the results of the trial were likely known for a bit now.

It's easily conceivable that billionaires have been pushing to be 'in the loop' on the meds from the start, and will have gained access long ago to whatever was used in the most promising trials. They can take it as soon as the insider doctors flag that it's ok, likely many weeks before any public announcement, and certainly before any governmental validation.

The value of said vaccines are considerable, there's massive money involved, I wonder if the R&D institutions themselves may have been able to find a loophole to allow for it.

With the sheer number of doctors and patients involved in the trial, and vials worth possibly $100-500K on the black market ... it's bound to get out.

And frankly, who cares? A couple thousand early vaccines is basically meaningless from a public health standpoint. It might even be moral to have publicly auctioned off the first mini batch and put the money into production. It's rational because the 'willingness to pay' of some billionaires for the almost arbitrary early access to a vaccine which will soon be cheap and plentiful ... works well as a 'win win' both for the buyer, and society.

The problem with this question is that there are likely to be multiple vaccines. Each will have its quirks.

The first round of vaccines will require two doses a few weeks apart. Each one of those requires a visit. Failure to get the second shot will likely lead to severely reduced efficacy.

The first two vaccines likely to be available in the US will be mRNA vaccines. They are based on an entirely new platform that's never been deployed at scale. That's going to lead to some surprises - possibly good but maybe not so good.

Later vaccines will be more traditional such as the adenovirus-based vaccine being developed by J&J.

Numerically, we're likely to see severe reactions or even death in hundreds or thousands of cases at least. The clinical trials are being run on tens of thousands of patients only, and can only pick up so many reactions. As hundreds of millions get vaccinated, we'll see the full range of effects, some of which could be serious even with the safest vaccines. It's important to keep this in perspective as the news of incidents starts to come out.

I sometimes hear the statement "I'm waiting until it's proven safe." If that's you, you might want to ask yourself what evidence you'll need to know the vaccine is safe.

I don't think it's religious per say but it is definitely ingrained in the my team Vs the other mentality us humans seem to have