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A comment on Covid vaccine makers commit to not seek approval until complete Phase III trials. Parent comment

Re:Covid vaccine makers commit to not seek approval until co... by BurningFrog on Tuesday September 08, 2020 @03:51PM (#24412322)
Vaccines are a bit different than "cures" for stopping trials.

If you test drug XYZ and after a while it's clear that far more people in the control group die, you quickly declare XYZ proven effective, stop the trial, and give XYZ to the control group to save as many lives as possible.

For vaccines there are no such dramatic effects. Everyone in the study is healthy, at least to begin with, so there is no tragedy to avert, and you can let the study keep going even after it starts becoming clear that the vaccine is good.

At least in theory. I don't know the actual bureaucratic protocols.

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Re:Covid vaccine makers commit to not seek approval until co... by vikramkr on Tuesday September 08, 2020 @03:56PM (#24412387)
The usual protocols have been well and truly thrown out the window, so I don't know what the comparison point would be. Moderna didn't even finish animal trials before giving their vaccine to humans.
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