Covid-19

[Lloyd Braun]

Wait- when did Fauci say that getting a vaccine out before the end of the year was highly unlikely? I recall him saying that “widespread” vaccination was unlikely but thy was always a pipe dream. He stated multiple times though that there would likely be a vaccine available by the end of the year. He was “cautiously optimistic” as I recall.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Wait- when did Fauci say that getting a vaccine out before the end of the year was highly unlikely? I recall him saying that “widespread” vaccination was unlikely but thy was always a pipe dream. He stated multiple times though that there would likely be a vaccine available by the end of the year. He was “cautiously optimistic” as I recall.

Oh thanks for the clarification. When the other poster said that I thought I remembered him saying that too so I was just commenting as if it were true. If not my mistake.

[GIMMFD]

But it's often the same people that will also say "we don't yet know enough about the virus to make any conclusions about it" - yet the vaccine should be completely trusted after one month? If I was 80, I'm likely taking the vaccine. I'm not, so I'll wait. That's a pretty common conclusion I'm hearing from low-risk populations outside of healthcare workers.

It's not surprising that there are so many opinions on this. There has literally been a year's worth of contradictions in pretty much every aspect of this. I don't know how anyone could know who to believe. They've (whoever they is) caused this level of mistrust and hesitation.

I think it's important to know that mRNA vaccine technology has been in the works for years on end, so this isn't really something that was created and rushed in a one year time frame as everybody likes to think. Another thing is I read through the protocols for both of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, they covered their t's and dotted their i's in terms of the trials, covering every demographic, age group, etc. I posted the safety profile of it when it came out, they're pretty damn safe. I also see a lot of people saying the mRNA vaccine changes your DNA, which is just not true with any understanding of basic cell biology. I can explain that, but it's pretty boring so unless interested I won't ramble. What's missing here is the communication and education as stated in this thread, if the safe aspects of the vaccine were communicated in a better fashion, I don't think there'd be as much hesitancy in getting it. The short term side effects are nothing life threatening, and though the long term side effects aren't known yet, there's really nothing I'd expect to be life threatening in that regard either.

[D-West & PO-Z]

The two biggest mistakes thus far imo are telling people in the beginning not to wear masks and lack of public education/mass marketing about the vaccine.

[boozehound]

The two biggest mistakes thus far imo are telling people in the beginning not to wear masks and lack of public education/mass marketing about the vaccine.

For sure. So much stupidity in the messaging.

Telling people not to wear masks was stupid.
Calling it "Operation Warp Speed" was kind of stupid, although I don't actually take a ton of issue with that specifically.
Trump pontificating about Hydroxychloroquine (remember that?) was stupid.
Kamala Harris saying "I wouldn't take HIS vaccine" in the VP debate was incredibly stupid.

I get that this was a Pandemic that unfolded extremely quickly, so I'll allow for people just being wrong about some things, particularly early on. The problem is that there was no coherent and cohesive overall message.

[jhelmes37]

For sure. So much stupidity in the messaging.

Telling people not to wear masks was stupid.

I'll be honest with you. This is the one that got me.

When Fauci came out and admitted he lied on purpose to get the public to do what he wanted (not wear masks in order to save them for essential workers), that was it for me.

That made me question every piece of info the media came out. If the dude who is in CHARGE of all of this will lie this easily, why would you believe anyone?

[GoMuskies]

Trump pontificating about Hydroxychloroquine (remember that?) was stupid.

This is the one I still wonder about. Have we decided HCQ is effective in treating Covid or not? It went back and forth so many times confused with bumbling Trump's ramblings that I don't know if I ever saw a definitive answer from the medical community.

[boozehound]

I'll be honest with you. This is the one that got me.

When Fauci came out and admitted he lied on purpose to get the public to do what he wanted (not wear masks in order to save them for essential workers), that was it for me.

That made me question every piece of info the media came out. If the dude who is in CHARGE of all of this will lie this easily, why would you believe anyone?

It was a massive public policy mistake, but I'm not going to throw out the rest of the information because of that. Most of our vaccine information is coming from (and through) people other than Fauci. Generally it's being vetted through multiple sources.

This is the one I still wonder about. Have we decided HCQ is effective in treating Covid or not? It went back and forth so many times confused with bumbling Trump's ramblings that I don't know if I ever saw a definitive answer from the medical community.

I think it was ultimately a 'no'. Remdesivir, yes. Monoclonal Antibodies, hell yes. HCQ probably not. I think it's no longer really used in favor of the other two treatments mentioned.

[STL_XUfan]

This is the one I still wonder about. Have we decided HCQ is effective in treating Covid or not? It went back and forth so many times confused with bumbling Trump's ramblings that I don't know if I ever saw a definitive answer from the medical community.

By far the dumbest political debate I have ever seen. The fact that anyone outside of the medical community had an opinion on a drug most of us couldn't spell let alone knew existed in February of 2020 was just mind boggling (and before anyone pulls up my old posts, I include myself among the masses of idiots)

[noteggs]

Wait- when did Fauci say that getting a vaccine out before the end of the year was highly unlikely? I recall him saying that “widespread” vaccination was unlikely but thy was always a pipe dream. He stated multiple times though that there would likely be a vaccine available by the end of the year. He was “cautiously optimistic” as I recall.

Back in May Fauci said he believed we would eventually get a vaccine in a year or two. In June he felt a vaccine would probably be 70 to 75% effective and not give us the herd immunity we need. July 31 before Congress, he said we should have a vaccine early 2021. Not the “widespread” that he later changed to. Here he was again in October.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ary-fauci-says


Doesn’t give people a lot of confidence which was point I was trying describe.

I don’t blame him because we have never developed a vaccine so fast and he doesn’t have a crystal ball. But people were saying if Fauci opened his mouth it must be true. Unfortunately people were giving him impossible things to speculate on during the summer. FWIW, still respect the man and what he’s done for his country.