Video number 42 of the channel, today diving into a two part video looking at some issues surrounding vaccine development. At the start of the week, Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca put out a press release for data from their vaccine claiming to have met their primary trial end point and having protective efficacy of 62-90% with an average of 70%. At first I thought that was looking good, but the more I learned, there’s some serious issues with what OxfordU/Astra have put out and it’s made even more of an issue by the fact they are looking to get regulatory approval. This video is a bit more of a rant than I usually do because we can’t screw up this vaccine development process, there has never been greater need for a vaccine nor greater scrutiny of a vaccine. This development needs to be perfect and we can’t have bad science. This is my discussion of what is going on.
There’s also a part two video where I’ll dive into some broader issues surrounding the development of the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 to protection from COVID-19 which can be found here –
Links:
AstraZeneca press release:
A good article on the issues with what is going on if you want to read on top of listen to me:
The “pledge” I made reference to:
Previous videos on this vaccine:
1 –
2 –
3 –
Timestamps
0:02:54 – End of the introduction and into a discussion of the background on viral vector based vaccines
0:05:58 – A metaphor for how viral vector vaccines work
0:07:09 – Finishing out the background on the Oxford/Astra vs Sputnik V vaccines
0:08:09 – Talking about the press release that came from OxfordU/AstraZeneca
0:08:58 – The issues with the data from OxfordU/AstraZeneca
0:12:53 – Why the half then full dose might be better even though it was an error
0:16:17 – Going back into frustrations with what has happened here regarding Astra saying they will submit for emergency approval
0:19:03 – Some more general thoughts about the issue here and why it caused the rant in this video
0:20:11 – Some concluding remarks on OxfordU/Astra
0:21:05 – Oh yeah, Sputnik V
0:22:38 – Final remarks
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And importantly through all this, stay safe, wash you hands, wear a mask, keep calm and carry on.
