On: Get Real: no drug or vaccine will avoid a very big...

[kingbirdy]

I believe OPs point is about considering the longer term effects. If we prevent a million Covid-19 deaths with a rushed vaccine, but the vaccine kills even a few people and brings anti-vaxx into full swing and we get a nationwide diphtheria outbreak instead, are we really coming out ahead?

[koheripbal → kingbirdy]

Then again, the longer we wait to deploy a vaccine, the more likely a novel strain will emerge and make itself endemic and seasonal like the flu, in need of yearly vaccinations and persistently high CFR.

[carapace → kingbirdy]

I think a much more likely scenario in the event of a bad plague would be that angry mobs will put anti-vaxxers up against the wall and shoot them.

(I am NOT advocating this! Looking over history that seems to me to be a more likely reaction.)

[mellavora → kingbirdy]

And as evidence, there are numerous known bad side effects from prior rushed vaccines. The risk is very real.