
Mistrust of a Coronavirus Vaccine Could Imperil Widespread Immunity - ghaff
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-anti-vaccine.html
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HarryHirsch
There are lessons to be learned from the 1976 Swine Flu vaccine:
[https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-1007_article](https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-1007_article)

If it turns out that there are side effects that weren't discovered due to
rushed testing the fallout will be ugly, no one is going to trust public
officials in anything. We had a preview with the dengue vaccine on the
Phillippines: [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/dengue-vaccine-
fiasc...](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/dengue-vaccine-fiasco-leads-
criminal-charges-researcher-philippines)

~~~
ghaff
And, arguably, Lymerix. Although the situation with that is... complicated.

The Dengue vaccine is still on the market in various places including the US
AFAIK for certain demographics/prior exposure. Some tradeoffs are worth it.
It's almost a given that any near-term vaccine almost certainly _hasn 't_ been
adequately tested by historical standards, "we" (or at least the government)
will accept side effects at a level that wouldn't normally be considered
acceptable, and both private and public institutions will require vaccination
to fully participate in society.

~~~
HarryHirsch
Lymerix is a good comparison. There were justified concerns about the vaccine
provoking an autoimmune reaction in some patients, and meanwhile tick bites
can be prevented through simple actions - cover arms and legs, stay out of
long grass, use insect repellent. It's difficult to argue for a vaccine when
other measures work equally well and pose less risk.

Meanwhile the first world has reduced the spread of coronavirus through public
health interventions but America can't follow.

~~~
ghaff
There are some analogs but they may be different than you think.

>meanwhile tick bites can be prevented

I'm careful but I (normally) do a fair bit of hiking and live on a large
property surrounded by fields. I am careful but I still find ticks on myself
every now and then and am bitten from time to time.

One can certainly be careful about reducing virus contact at the cost of
considerable inconvenience. But there's a lot of evidence that new outbreaks
are still flaring up in many places and that _many_ locales end up going
through a rough patch sooner or later. So I'm not sure it's fair to say that
if everyone just took some basic precautions and otherwise carried on as
usual, we'd be just fine even without a (potentially somewhat risky) vaccine.

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rayhendricks
This is the Surgeon General of the United States on 2020-02-29:

"Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!

They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching
#Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick
patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!
[http://bit.ly/37Ay6Cm"](http://bit.ly/37Ay6Cm")

I don't trust anything the USA government says anymore, and will not get any
Covid vaccine in the USA.

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ghaff
Assuming a vaccine _does_ get developed, this could get very ugly because
schools and companies will require it. As they probably should, depending on
the circumstances, but it will likely create a large class of people/families
who are faced with what is (to them) an intolerable choice.

