[HN Gopher] FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids age 12 to 15
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FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids age 12 to 15
Author : jbredeche
Score : 66 points
Date : 2021-05-10 21:27 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| vmception wrote:
| Go USA! What is the current standard of review for these
| authorizations since complete clinical trials are not possible,
| and a convenient point of contention for people that opt-out of
| taking the vaccine (most of them would move the goal post to
| something else even with successful clinical trials with a
| relatable list of side effects, but I was wondering about this
| process)
| vecplane wrote:
| Isn't it reasonable to have the option to opt-out of taking
| these vaccines, in the absence of more complete data and
| longer-term trials?
| happytoexplain wrote:
| Sure - but the parent didn't criticize the existence of the
| option. They criticized the decision making that many (not
| all) people use when exercising that option.
| kurthr wrote:
| Yes, I think that at this point putting your own life at risk
| is acceptable. You'll probably have to wear a mask since you
| could make other people sick (who could then pass it on to
| someone immunocompromised). Of course you could face a civil
| suit, if someone get's sick or dies, and you can be shown as
| the proximate cause of illness. Your employer may choose not
| to take that risk.
|
| If you're licensed in many states (e.g. medical, etc.) you're
| already required to be vaccinated against flu/TB. With EUA
| they've put this off, but with full authorization, why treat
| it differently?
|
| One question, what long term effect of the vaccines are you
| concerned about, that wouldn't be far less severe than
| actually being infected?
| vmception wrote:
| Many people are wary of the newness of mRNA technology.
|
| They think a long term affect has been overlooked or is
| unknown. Although some people make up long term effects,
| many other people are just acknowledging the absence of
| history to tell, and thats valid.
|
| (Very few of the people opting out are distinguishing
| between any vaccine technology though. But some are.)
| Pfhreak wrote:
| Isn't "the mRNA technology" decades old at this point?
| Yes, this might be the first wide spread human
| deployment, but they've been researching the technique in
| animals for over thirty years.
|
| What's the bar for when a technology is no longer "new"?
| sokoloff wrote:
| For healthy, young people, I can see many of them making a
| not-irrational judgement that with the reports of blood-
| clot side effects above the population expectancy [from
| AZ's vaccine], coupled with a lack of full authorization
| for any of them, to conclude that waiting is reasonable for
| them. I support what I believe is their right to make that
| choice _particularly_ in advance of a full approval for
| use.
|
| (I'm fully vaccinated as of today, just as context for what
| I said above. I came to a different [and I believe
| rational] calculation of my own risk-balance of
| complications from the vaccine versus fading the COVID risk
| unvaccinated for me and my family/colleagues and signed up
| for the very first shot I could get, a 75 minute drive
| away.)
| sithadmin wrote:
| In the absence of legitimate health concerns preventing one
| from safely receiving the vaccines, it's increasingly
| _unreasonable_ and arguably unethical to opt-out of taking
| the vaccines.
| [deleted]
| bongobingos wrote:
| Fortunately, America isn't an autocratic dictatorship.
| kurthr wrote:
| The clinical trials are actually the same (statistical power)
| as previous vaccine trials. They've simply enrolled more people
| faster and had a higher infection rate to evaluate safety and
| efficacy. It is likely in the next month that Pfizer will get a
| standard (non Emergency Use) Authorization.
|
| https://www.biospace.com/article/pfizer-biontech-and-moderna...
|
| The reason for EUA was that so many people were dying that some
| more limited (<1yr clinical safety) data was accepted. Now that
| many of the original subjects are falling past 1yr post
| inoculation (and variants have been evaluated) a full
| authorization in eminent. Previously, people worried that once
| one vaccine was authorized other EUA (NovaVax, AZ/ChadOx, etc)
| wouldn't happened, has also been resolved since the FDA
| realizes people want choice.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| I've recently heard a few parents talking about getting their
| kids these shots. So I decided to take a look at the CDC numbers
| again. There's a graph where you can select death counts per age
| group:
|
| https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Se...
|
| Given that death rates for the elderly are in the thousands per
| week, while those for kids jump around two to four or so, is this
| a good idea? Typically you want the benefits of a vaccine to
| outweigh the risks. I certainly could be missing something, but
| it doesn't look like this is the case for healthy kids.
| stevefrench93 wrote:
| Does anyone know the case fatality rate for children in this age
| range?
| pragmatic8 wrote:
| Yeah. Nil.
| randomopining wrote:
| Doubters are like "you don't know the long term effects!"
|
| But you also don't know the long term effects of covid lol. At
| least this has been clinically studied for a year.
| abfan1127 wrote:
| we have year old results for Covid too.
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