"They are anti-vaxers who would oppose vaccinations of any type"
They say they're not. They are just being cautious regarding a vaccine they believe was possibly not tested enough before it was released to the general public.
My short response is that this is misinformed. But it does press my buttons, and I feel a rant coming on… …
[\BEGIN RANT] Lately, I've heard too many people repeating that same line about not testing the vaccines enough. Where do they get that from? It's as if they get their 'marching orders' from the same source – the Right Wing/Anti-Vaxer Message of the Day – widely repeated by Faux News.
They are wrong. The two mRNA vaccines have been extensively tested – they are remarkably effective and safe. So much so that the FDA approved both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for use. There is nothing illegal, unethical, or unsafe about this.
The anti-vaxers have fixated on the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), while ignoring how an EUA works. The clinical trials for these vaccines were designed exactly the same regardless of whether they were intended for normal or emergency authorization. All clinical data (how many people got Covid-19) and adverse events and toxicities (safety data) were collected for all people after receiving placebo injections (30,000 people) or the vaccine (also 30,000).
Under normal conditions, vaccine makers could apply for full approval after one-year's data had been collected. Most of the adverse events for injected vaccines occur soon after injection, but because the FDA is rigorously conservative, it usually requires collecting clinical and safety data for a full year after infection. However, the existence of a worldwide pandemic, one that killed nearly 600,000 people in the USA alone, constitutes a medical emergency larger than any of us has witnessed in our lifetime.
As a result the FDA allowed vaccine makers to apply for temporary approval under their EUA option after collecting clinical and safety data for 3 months instead of 12 months. Those clinical trials are continuing to collect data. After 12 months, all data will be reviewed again to judge if the temporary EUA should be made permanent.
The right wing/anti-vaccine people have argued that the EUA makes us guinea pigs in a large experiment. Claiming that the vaccines have been inadequately tested is an extreme misrepresentation. Only the most cynical politicians could buy such a distorted argument. It's a false controversy.
Within the rational medical community, there has been no debate over the early use of these vaccines. Instead, the debate has focused on whether it's ethical to not immunize those 30,000 people who received placebo injections while the clinical trials continue. After the two EUAs were granted, the people on the placebo arms of those two trials were given the choice of getting vaccinated right away, or continuing as placebo volunteers for months 4 through 12. [\END RANT]
