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Comment by bsder | Hacker News Reader

People seem to forget that we launched all of these vaccine types simultaneously because we were terrified that NONE would work.

The only reason we can sit here and armchair quarterback the AstraZenca vaccine is because we actually got really lucky and have a plethora of functional vaccines.

Had you told medical researchers 12 months ago that by March 2021 we would have a half-dozen Covid vaccines and we would have multiple ones at 95%+, they would have told you that you were delusional.

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I think you're overstating it. There's a vast difference between "terrified that NONE would work" and "wanted to maximize the chance of at least one working vaccine."

The armchair quarterbacks think we have a plethora of functional vaccines. With all the logistics involved, there is little actual choice unless you want countries to remain locked down or watch people keep dying for another 6 months or more. It doesn't matter that Pfizer seems to have won the PR war when we can't afford to wait for factories to be built to manufacture it in sufficient quantity.

We have created a plethora of different functional vaccines, however as you said due to logistics there isn't a plethora of choice for "end users". I could've taken the AZ vaccine, but decided to wait for an available mRNA and it looks like that wont be soon.

We don't get that choice. Our mRNA supply is entirely going to health care workers and the most at risk. And overseas manufacturing capacity is entirely spoken for for longer than anyone wants to wait. So everyone else is getting AstraZeneca, and maybe a switch down the line to something else we can manufacture locally. Choice for the country is AZ, or nothing and starting again in 6+ months. So watching the potential health concerns and trying to weed out the political posturing. The non-justified criticism is going to have a real effect on vaccination numbers and efficacy, and those numbers are already going to suffer due to the justified criticisms.

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