Zlatan 7
We've got bush!
- Joined
- May 26, 2016
- Messages
- 11,877
Thanks for that. Interesting informative read.A narcolepsy diagnosis often takes months, and it's a diagnosis that tends to come after a lot of frustrating doctor's visits and, "you're just run down - try winding down for longer before you go to bed," etc. Pandemrix (the version involved) increased the risk of narcolepsy in kids in particular, and the cases started within one/two months.
Modern clinical trials look for these vaguer, more ambiguous patterns - changes in people's general health/mood - with e-diaries. I don't know how they were handled by GSK back then. At any rate a side effect emerging that quickly would be seen in the trial, if it happened to someone.
The bigger problem is that it's believed it doubled the normal narcolepsy rate (from 1:100,000 in a normal year to 1:50,000 in those who took the vaccine). Now that is beyond the number of people you normally have in a trial (though similar to the numbers involved in these covid trials) and that really wouldn't be visible until after rollout.
incidentally, in places where the swine flu did cause lots of deaths, they also had a rise in narcolepsy. So, as usual there's a calculation involved, and while we might not like the idea, it's one that sometimes trades off side-effects in otherwise healthy people against the risk of catching the disease. Hence another reason for the pattern of older adults first, kids maybe never on the covid vaccine rollout.
I don’t know enough about it either way but I’m sure there’s others that are saying yes it’s perfectly fine without knowing too much either.
it’s a terrible time and the fact it’s come about at the height of Miss information, Fake news, doubting professionals and general flat earth and anti vax conspiracies adds to it all and the confusion.
I’m sure there’s risks whatever way you lean but it’s all about that balancing act and greater good.
If the vaccine doesn’t prevent carrying then the greater good argument kind of goes out of the window, so again, I’m just taking it day by day and seeing what info becomes available instead of running to the front of the queue