It is difficult to overstate the urgency of developing a safe and effective vaccine that protects against COVID-19.
While some experimental vaccines appear to be working well on the “effective” side, Cabling reports that pharmaceutical companies may be underestimating the risks and side effects associated with them, which may include pain, severe fevers and fatigue.
A team of scientists from Oxford University who previously claimed their vaccine could be ready by September has just released a press release saying the vaccine is safe, despite an increase in “minor side effects” among participants. of the study. But that, Cabling reports, it can be an aggressive marketing twist that the mainstream media, including the New York Times and the Wall street journal – repeat.
By minimizing the damage associated with these experimental vaccines, Cabling He maintains that the pharmaceutical companies that develop them, and the journalists who write about them, risk eroding public confidence or even giving new ammunition to the anti-Vaxxer crowd.
In the Oxford group’s experiment, almost ten percent of all participants who took the vaccine ended up with a fever over 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, Cabling reports. Historically, pharmaceutical companies have been given enormous leeway in deciding what constitutes a minor or moderate or severe side effect.
But no matter what classification those fevers are technically in, it’s a reasonable bet that some people may choose not to get a vaccine if they suddenly find out about the side effects previously hidden from them.
Do the benefits of a coronavirus vaccine, a preventative measure that could ultimately end this pandemic, outweigh the risk of aches, pains, and perhaps even feverish fever? Almost certainly yes. But mass inoculation requires massive trust, and keeping silent about potential dangers along the way runs the risk of throwing it out the window.
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