Let’s Talk About Why Those COVID Vaccine Clinical Trials Were Stopped
Can you guess why some recent COVID vaccine clinical trials were stopped early, before they were finished?
Anti-vaccine influencers sure seem to think they know why…
Actually, I’ll give Steve Kirsch the benefit of the doubt, maybe he really doesn’t know…
Let’s Talk About Why Those COVID Vaccine Clinical Trials Were Stopped
We sure do know though!
To satisfy Steve Kirsch, we even asked his beloved AlterAI, which he frequently uses to create misinformation and propaganda about vaccines.
AlterAI first blamed:
Compressed timelines - these clinical trials are done fairly quickly
Low perceived personal risk - fortunately, rates of COVID aren’t high right now
Trial fatigue - folks have been doing these trials for 6 years now!
Regulatory strictness - for the lower risk population in this study, RFK Jr.’s HHS required larger trials that were placebo controlled. Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad implemented this change last year.
And that’s a great answer!
But there is something missing from this answer…
So, according to AlterAI, the most honest way to explain why the latest COVID vaccine clinical trials couldn’t recruit enough participants include:
legitimate logistical and epidemiological reasons, including that RFK Jr. made them create a larger trial than usual, and
the impact of misinformation, including “years of false claims about vaccine harm created genuine hesitancy” which reduced the number of people who would sign up
It’s not so baffling after all, is it?
Of course, the impact of misinformation is not the main factor. AlterAI seems to say what you want it to say…
ChatGPT gives a better answer - “Yes—it’s plausible that misinformation (along with broader vaccine hesitancy) contributed to recruitment challenges, but it’s only one of several factors, and not necessarily the dominant one.”
Still, misinformation is a factor.
What Does This Mean for Our COVID Vaccines?
There is something else that everyone be talking about.
What happens if we need an updated COVID vaccine as new variants keep popping up?
Will vaccine manufacturers be making an updated COVID vaccine this year?
Will the FDA approve an updated COVID vaccine this year?
Anti-vaccine influencers and their followers might not want to be vaccinated, but there are plenty of people who do, especially those with high risk conditions!