SvennoJ said:
curl-6 said:
It really is a phenomenal scientific achievement that within a year of the virus being identified, we already have multiple vaccines with 90+% efficacy almost ready for deployment.
I know a lot of people are worried by the speed with which this has happened, but rather than seeing this as rushed, it's more accurate to see the usual development time of several years as a symptom of red tape, funding issues, apathy, and other unnecessary hangups that simply aren't an issue now that the world has a reason to care and contribute.
In a time when so many millions are suffering, one of the upsides of the current situation is that it has brought together scientists the world over in a way that almost nothing has before in our history. For arguably the first time, the expertise of the entire globe is working towards a common goal, and have been given all the resources they need to achieve it as quickly as possible.
What we're seeing really is a testament not only to human intelligence and ingenuity, but to the human spirit.
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I like your rose tinted glasses. However I see more competition than cooperation, with different parties hacking into each others data to get ahead.
It is still rushed. You can't speed up testing for long term side effects. The big upside in this pandemic is that since people don't listen nor put the effort in to curb the spread, there is a huge test bed available to test the efficacy of vaccine candidates.
Anyway, what I see is capitalism, greed and stupidity working in favor of humanity for a change, to come to (hopefully) a quick resolution.
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There's been a few hacks but we're still seeing scientists the world over sharing new discoveries and information on how to beat the virus. Capitalism is definitely at work, but at the end of the day the scientists and researchers involved are human beings who not only want to be safe themselves, but in most cases would want other people to be well also, especially their own friends and family.
Call me naive, but I think the majority of people the world over would want the suffering COVID is causing to end.
Long term adverse effects are quite unlikely, whereas we can say with almost complete certainty that if we hold off on vaccine development millions will die unnecessarily.
Last edited by curl-6 - on 26 November 2020
