I love a clinical trial. Sign me the eff up. That being said, as you mention, there are some issues with the speed of trials. And in particular, the demographic spread that volunteers for clinical trials in the US is a problem because it’s typically a monolith: white women, college educated, generally healthy, ages 18-35 IIRC. Proportional representation is hard to find, and distrust in public health is (for good historical reasons) low in minority populations. Pulling in a wider swath of people isn’t possible, and researchers are missing massive chunks of data from which trust could be built.
Comment on bird flu
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 1 week ago
Well at least they can be. We just have to trust actual clinical trials more. Its perfectly reasonable to be skeptical and cautious until there is actual proof that something is safe.
thesohoriots@lemmy.world 1 week ago
shininghero@pawb.social 1 week ago
Or remind people of the horrible specter that polio was, and the shadow it cast over society at the time. People lived in constant dread of catching something that could leave them physically ruined, and even wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives back then.
Covid, in its early strains, had the potential to leave you hospitalized and drowning in your own lungs for weeks as it ran its course. Granted, that’s not polio levels of bad… But that’s still weeks of hell, and several more years of hospital billing hell that I would like to avoid.
Weighing those outcomes, I opted for early access to the vaccine. Even though it was more to minimize the risk of an expensive hospital stay.