Covid: Novavax vaccine clears key step on path to FDA authorization

cnbc.com

2 points·protomyth··2 comments

This is great, but I can't imagine that there are many "unimmunized people who would prefer a shot that is not based on the mRNA technology".

I've heard a variety of inconsistent excuses from the "vaccine hesitant", only some of which have anything to do with mRNA. Many are repeating some variant of "just a flu". I saw one the other day call it "COLDvid", clearly impressed with their own cleverness.

I'm sure there will be a few, but there's no way that this closes the gap to the point where we can depend on herd immunity. At this point most of the US has had the disease, and most have been vaccinated. I don't think adding a few more percent is going to change that.

Nor, more to the point, is it going to change the way the pandemic has been used as yet another way of prosecuting the same old culture war.

I can imagine it. Rushed new technology does tend to freak people out. I know when I got my second shot, the effects were unlike anything I had ever experienced in a vaccine. Passing out on my couch with my keys in my hand to drive myself to the emergency room at 3AM because I just couldn't get warm and my teeth were chattering was not a fun experience. I had a winter coat and a winter survival blanket and just couldn't get warm. Worse, it wasn't just me. Something like that does that tends to make people pause. I wonder what would have happened if I had decided to get my keys 15 minutes earlier.

Having a shot made in the same way as something that most people take will improve the rate of immunization. I would expect they will market it correctly and probably cast some shade towards the previous shots.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com