Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 11 2020 12:26am)

There is no other reason why the interests of teachers unions and Republicans should be inherently incompatible except for the hostility shown by Republicans towards these unions. And this hostility quite clearly comes from both the teachers unions and their members leaning liberal/Democratic. Partisan animosity might be able to explain why 95-97% of these unions' donations go to Democrats, but it cant explain their alignment with Democrats on the issues/policy.

Hispanics might be more conservative on social issues than white liberals, and align more with Republicans on those issues, but they are also a very left-leaning bloc (relative to the rest of the nation) on economic policy. On top, their Catholicism probably doesnt mesh too well with the Evangelical bloc which is very dominant within the GOP.

Jews in the US are very urban, white collar- and globalist-leaning. They are strongly overrepresented among liberal-leaning professions like law and the media. So yes, racist undercurrents within the GOP are surely pushing Jews into the Democratic camp even more, but they'd be a strongly Democratic-leaning constituency even without this factor.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 11 2020 01:09pm)

The Russians just went crazy and completely skipped the Phase 3 trial for their new vaccine. Only tested it on 50 soldiers, and will now probably mass deploy it among their population without knowing anything about side effects or long-term risks. I wish them the best of lucky, but it seems like a recipe for disaster. Consequently, the rest of the international community went "nah, we're good". :lol:

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 11 2020 12:09pm)

The Russians just went crazy and completely skipped the Phase 3 trial for their new vaccine. Only tested it shortly on 50 soldiers, and will now probably mass deploy it among their population without knowing anything about side effects or long-term risks. I wish them the best of luck, but this approach seems like a recipe for disaster. Consequently, the rest of the international community went "nah, we're good". :lol:

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 11 2020 10:09am)

The Russians just went crazy and completely skipped the Phase 3 trial for their new vaccine. Only tested it shortly on 50 soldiers, and will now probably mass deploy it among their population without knowing anything about side effects or long-term risks. I wish them the best of luck, but this approach seems like a recipe for disaster. Consequently, the rest of the international community went "nah, we're good". :lol:

Quote (Thor123422 @ 11 Aug 2020 19:12)

Big oof.

My lab manager has an immunology phd and so im getting an earful every week or so about steps being skipped in the vaccine development everywhere.

Basically boils down to "18 months is the perfect schedule for a reason. Anything less than that and nobody should be getting the vaccine"

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 11 2020 10:36am)

Do you mean 18 months for the Phase 3 trial alone? If yes, that's just unrealistic. No country will be willing to wait that long. It would mean that we would, from now, need another 21 or so months (distributing takes time too) of mask wearing, social distancing, shut down businesses in the hospitality and leisure industries, hampered schooling, etc. pp.

Completely skipping any clinical trials like the Russians is insane, but some shortcuts will be taken. The risk of doing 6 months of trials as opposed to 18 months is probably a risk worth taking, considering the immense damage the pandemic continues to cause.

Quote (thundercock @ Aug 11 2020 12:41pm)

Maybe it makes sense to only administer the vaccine to healthy people so that they don't spread it if shortcuts are taken. Maybe they can distribute the vaccine in denser areas first. Honestly, I don't know the merits of doing that because I know next to nothing about vaccine development.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 11 2020 12:36pm)

Do you mean 18 months for the Phase 3 trial alone? If yes, that's just unrealistic. No country will be willing to wait that long. It would mean that we would, from now, need another 21 or so months (distributing takes time too) of mask wearing, social distancing, shut down businesses in the hospitality and leisure industries, hampered schooling, etc. pp.

Completely skipping any clinical trials like the Russians is insane, but some shortcuts will be taken. The risk of doing 6 months of trials as opposed to 18 months is probably a risk worth taking, considering the immense damage the pandemic continues to cause.