photo #685786

Moderna volunteer sounds alarm on twitter about severe side effects and low "effectiveness" standards. He seems far more knowledgeable than most study subjects I would guess, worth hearing his experience (he is very in favor of this vaccine and worries it will be derailed because people won't be warned about how sick it would make them): "Adverse reactions are common after the second shot of both these #RNA vaccines. I personally experienced an adverse reaction at least 50x worse with the Moderna vaccine than any other vaccine I have received, and I have received almost every vaccine." "The population to be initially vaccinated will be front-line workers, and those most at risk of severe COVID symptoms or death (those with diabetes, heart conditions, the elderly, etc.). I am very concerned about severe adverse reactions in the latter group." "It's up to vaccine companies as far as what they define to be a Grade 3 vs. Grade 4 adverse reaction. The grades are defined by the FDA; however, the questionnaires asked of participants have to be properly written, and staff trained, to align responses with FDA intent." "There are other confounding factors in grade level assessment. My adverse reaction was so bad that I sat by my phone all night ready to dial 911 if I felt I would lose consciousness. I didn't call, because it would cost hundreds of dollars out of pocket for the ambulance and therefore, I couldn't positively answer the question the next morning, "Did you seek medical attention for any medical symptoms in the last 24 hours" (which is a contributing criterion for Grade 4). This is an example of how a badly-written question leads to bad data." "Even if (conservatively speaking) the adverse reaction incidence rate is "only" say 10% (in keeping with the below Science editorial), then for the expected 40 million people to be vaccinated by the end of January, that's 4 million adverse reactions." "Four million adverse reactions *will* be a media fiasco. People will tell their stories. Anti-vaxxers will be ecstatic. This is why I decided to speak up as a whistleblower in the CNBC story. RNA vaccines, though extremely easy to develop, may present significant challenges." "It is extremely important to give people time to adjust to the idea that upon receiving the second shot, there's a significant possibility that they're going to have one of the worst nights of their life -- but that it might be worth it, because COVID can be much worse." "As a data scientist, I can tell you that in the case of the Moderna vaccine, the followup questions that are asked of participants by a tracking app, for at least 8 days after each shot, are extremely badly written. Consequently, their data is bad (mostly incomplete)." "comparing the Moderna and Pfizer adverse reaction prevalence to that of Shingrex is hardly a high bar, given that Shingrex is notorious for triggering adverse reactions that can last 2 years or more." "My guess: most SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will last 3-6 months, depending on the type of vaccine, before a booster is needed. But we don't know how bad the interferon response will be for the 3rd or 4th or shot. If the Moderna trial required a 3rd shot, I would have dropped out!" "The primary caveats are not being clearly explained by #Pfizer / #Moderna or the media. These vaccines were ~95% effective *for a small sample*, and, more importantly, only *at 2-4 months post-vaccination* And then there is this comment from another user." "All they want to show is it's 95%, nothing else. Just like last Monday, just show the 90%, but didn't tell the whole story that it was 90% at 7 days after the second dose. Big Pharma and their money buying power!"