Oxford AstraZeneca's dodgy science (General)

by dan , Saturday, November 28, 2020, 15:04 (50 days ago) @ dulan drift

I'm convinced this race for a vaccine, and the huge payoff for the winners, is bringing out the worst in people and science. In addition to what you've pointed out in the article, the following sentences caught my eye:

"The company later acknowledged that the half dose was a "manufacturing issue" and given to the trial participants by mistake." Manufacturing issue? So they admit they injected vaccine that wasn't manufactured properly into people? Lots of people?

"Facing increasing pressure to clarify the data, AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said on Friday it would now likely conduct a new global clinical trial to assess the vaccine's efficacy." If we can assume that the Moderna schedule for Phase 3 trials is representative of how long these trials take (http://url.site25.net/7v, and that's just phase 3), then it seems a new trail would take at least two years. (Moderna Phase 3 is scheduled to take one year and three months.) Are they really going to see the trial through to completion before announcing success?

On that note, again with an eye to that Moderna schedule, none of these vaccine candidates can possibly have completed Phase 3 trials, and Phase 3 trials are really all about long term safety. And yet we're being told they're going to ship in December. The Moderna trial won't even be finished until October of the following year, nearly 11 months later!
EDIT: I just noticed that Moderna's Phase 3 trial ends in October of 2022, not 21, so add a year to that.

Seeing as we're dealing with a brand new type of vaccine, one that manipulates our DNA, wouldn't it be prudent to actually complete safety trials? I'd rather take my chances with covid.