Name:   MartiniMan - Subject:   Easily explained Date:   7/31/2021 4:49:03 PM

The Novavax version, while running through the approval process faster, is not gene therapy, it is a traditional approach to vaccines.  As I stated many times, the development of these experimental "vaccines" was nothing short of a miracle and have saved countless lives.  Thank you President Trump!  But they have come at a very high cost compared to other traditional vaccines in terms of adverse reactions and deaths.  But for someone over age 65 or with 2 or more co-morbidities it is absolutely worth the risk of a bad outcome because the risk of getting the virus is even higher.  Not so for many others which is why it may be a rational and logical decision to wait.

One add on comment to the speed of approval both of the current versions and others in development, much of that speed was elimination of the bureaucratic process within FDA.  The reason Novavax is taking longer than the others is to allow enough time for them to complete their studies on effectiveness and potential short and long term complications.  I am all for that and if they can eliminate the paperwork nightmare of the FDA approval process and use traditional vaccine approaches that have been proven to be safer and effective then I am all for it.  Ideally it would have been better to allow for the studies to be performed instead of a massive human trial but I get the call on the decision.  As for me, while I would have approved the EUA, I would have encoruaged it for those at greatest risk to the virus and not anyone else, although if someone younger and healthier wanted it I would have allowed them to get it once they understood their risk to the virus and the short and potential long-term risks to the vaccines.  I think if we would have provided an honest appraisal of individual risk many younger, healthier people would have elected to wait.