And what other drugs do you believe have been in that reference class?
I don’t know.
Without that, it doesn’t tell you much.
I disagree. It allows me to shift those products from the category “drugs backed by the authority of academia and years of rigorous research” to “drugs that you take because important people and your echo chamber say that you should”.
I must admit, I’ve had some lingering doubts about drug testing before. But I never investigated those because it would take me too much time to gather the necessary knowledge to even distinguish whom to trust (especially since I find biology completely uninteresting—my high school teacher made sure of that). But I’m certain that the incentives of researchers and administrative bodies are more aligned with telling the truth in the case of ordinary drugs, than they are in case of Covid vaccines.
Direct finanical motivations seems to be even less strong in this case.
Thank you. I do not believe the guy quoted in the article because I don’t know his incentives, but that prompted me to look up the stock price of Pfizer and to my untrained eye it doesn’t look like investors believe the company will reap great profits from this. This strikes out my concern about financial incentives. The other concerns (about political pressure and lowered scrutiny) remain.
I don’t know.
I disagree. It allows me to shift those products from the category “drugs backed by the authority of academia and years of rigorous research” to “drugs that you take because important people and your echo chamber say that you should”.
I must admit, I’ve had some lingering doubts about drug testing before. But I never investigated those because it would take me too much time to gather the necessary knowledge to even distinguish whom to trust (especially since I find biology completely uninteresting—my high school teacher made sure of that). But I’m certain that the incentives of researchers and administrative bodies are more aligned with telling the truth in the case of ordinary drugs, than they are in case of Covid vaccines.
Thank you. I do not believe the guy quoted in the article because I don’t know his incentives, but that prompted me to look up the stock price of Pfizer and to my untrained eye it doesn’t look like investors believe the company will reap great profits from this. This strikes out my concern about financial incentives. The other concerns (about political pressure and lowered scrutiny) remain.