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    That is a reasonable subject line. Archived Message

    Posted by Shyaku on August 14, 2020, 7:31 am, in reply to "'the statement that a vaccine is "safe and effective" is devoid of meaning'"

    Testing of vaccines in animals is of little value since small mammals' immune systems (not to mention their general physiology and their viruses) are too different from ours, and primates can't really be used in large enough numbers.

    After passing a phase III human trial, safety will have passed muster in a few thousand humans, so safety will be known somewhere above 99.9%. 0.1% or even 0.01% are not insignficant numbers nonetheless. I would hazard a guess that if 200,000 Americans have died of the virus, this is currently around a 1 in 1500 or 0.07% efficacy rate for life in general in the US.

    Efficacy will be even less clear than safety, because you can't vaccinate people then deliberately infect them with the virus. Among those vaccinated, many will never go on to naturally contract the virus.

    Drugs and vaccines are sometimes initially administered to the military. Here, read, perhaps, healthcare providers in care homes.

    If voluntary, at least its up to the individual.

    There may be a more interesting issue for people here than either safety or efficacy - presence/absence of taggants.

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