Facebook fact check

by philg

A Floridian’s Facebook post today, updated for her by Facebook’s team of scientific experts:

(Disclaimer: I was not one of the Deplorables who “liked” this post!)

Facebook implies that COVID-19 vaccines are “approved“. As noted in We love our children so much we will give them an investigational vaccine, the manufacturers themselves are careful to disclose that their products are not approved. Moderna, for example, says “The Moderna COVID‑19 Vaccine has not been approved or licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) … There is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent COVID‑19.” and that the vaccine is “investigational”:

What does Johnson and Johnson say? “The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine has not been approved or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), … There is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19.”

How about Pfizer? “The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has not been approved or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but has been authorized for emergency use by FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) for use in individuals 16 years of age and older. The emergency use of this product is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of the medical product under Section 564(b)(1) of the FD&C Act unless the declaration is terminated or authorization revoked sooner.”

Related:

  • “Fact Check: Did India Ban the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine?” (Newsweek): Conspiracy theory website Infowars claimed on February 14, 2021, that India had banned the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine due to safety concerns. … On February 3, 2021, India’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC), a panel that advises the nation’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), a national regulatory body focused on pharmaceuticals and devices, ruled that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should not be recommended for an EUA in the country “at this stage.” … India has not banned the Pfizer vaccine. However, it has turned down its request for an emergency use authorization “at this stage.” … The Ruling: Mostly False. [I.e., the vaccine is not “banned” in India; it is simply illegal to inject]

15 thoughts on “Facebook fact check”

  1. So the point is that FB should say “authorized” instead of “approved”? OK.

  2. The US is about two sigma out to the right on the curve of lawyers suing doctors compared to the rest of the world, so these kinds of disclosures are a fact of life.

  3. I lost track, has the government agreed to indemnify the drug manufacturers or blocked tort claims against them in connection with any adverse affects from the vaccines?

  4. > the vaccine is not “banned” in India; it is simply illegal to inject

    This is reminiscent of Twitter and Reddit not banning users; it merely places them on permanent suspension.

    • Yeah… now baristas sit in Congress and opinion of “fact checkers” fresh out of adolescence and having zero knowledge of science overrides professiobal judgment of actual scientists.

      That’s exactly what Lenin meant by writing “…a kitchen-wife can rule the State…” This is the revolt of mediocrity against reason.

  7. Well, Facebook didn’t say that Covid-19 vaccines are “approved,” just that the “Covid-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness before they’re approved.” LOL!

  8. If they’re properly called investigational, I’d say the investigation is going pretty well. Millions of people have had them and they seem to be working without too many ill effects.

  9. I told a FB friend today: yup, they’re experimental. We’re running the experiment with some oversight, a little intelligence, but they’re basically experimental. The Moderna vaccine was developed before the first person in the United States died, in literally a weekend, if you believe New York Magazine.

    And hey, some Rockstar Citizen Scientists with Ph.Ds were self-administering their own homebrew nasal vaccine back in July. If you think this is anything other than a carefully-watched experiment, you’re wrong. And if the 70 geniuses can subject themselves to a homebrew vaccine, what are you worried about?

    https://www.biospace.com/article/scientists-take-do-it-yourself-untested-covid-19-vaccine/

    I am supposed to get my shot next week, of the Pfizer variety. Fingers crossed.

    • Unless I’m mistaken and NY Magazine was completely wrong, the Moderna vaccine that is being injected into people’s bodies right now was put together in a couple of days.

      “In Massachusetts, the Moderna vaccine design took all of one weekend. It was completed before China had even acknowledged that the disease could be transmitted from human to human, more than a week before the first confirmed coronavirus case in the United States. By the time the first American death was announced a month later, the vaccine had already been manufactured and shipped to the National Institutes of Health for the beginning of its Phase I clinical trial.”

      https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-design.html

      Of course they’re “investigational” or “experimental.” And they are going to continue to be, as the virus mutates and new vaccine booster shots have to be developed.

      I thought many times during this whole thing that the biggest lesson everyone we’re going to learn is that our vaunted #Science was basically an experimental and investigational game of playing catch-up to a virus that has absolutely no concern for how much trouble it causes us. And our #Science is comparatively feeble.

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