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Comment by philshem | Hacker News Reader

>>> Anti-vaxxers immediately jump on any report of possible adverse events in a vaccine trial (which are thoroughly investigated, of course).

>>> Let’s spare a thought today for the person who signed up for the Moderna vaccine trial, received two placebo shots and died of covid19.

https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1333401133260419072

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edit:

Please explain the downvotes.

The vaccine volunteer would be alive if he was randomly assigned the actual vaccine, and not two doses of placebo.

The tweet is from a respected journalist at Science Magazine.

View on HN

Downvoting for following reasons:

* Not interesting. Placebo.

* Low quality source: personal Twitter

* Cannot find corroboration

* Unclear why you think this is interesting to us. I don't understand whether you're making a point

Hope that helps

Here's a source from CNBC if people are doubting the tweet, "Additionally, there was one Covid-19-related death in the study that occurred in the placebo group, according to the company (Moderna)." https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/30/moderna-covid-vaccine-is-94p...

I don’t know about the downvotes, perhaps because it’s only tangentially related to the post? But I appreciated the thought. Talk about an unsung hero. Whoever died on the placebo died so that the rest of us can have the knowledge that we have a safe and effective vaccine. We should be grateful to them.

He would have died anyway. Without control groups, we can't test vaccines. So we would not have vaccines. It's not bad to spare a thought for him though. Just bad luck, like a person getting hit and killed by a bus, which would not have happened if he hadn't misplaced his keys and left the house later than he planned.

I think this might have flown better if you had included the first half of the tweet: Anti-vaxxers immediately jump on any report of possible adverse events in a vaccine trial (which are thoroughly investigated, of course).

That really puts the second half in context.

interesting, I've added the full tweet.

I think the downvotes are from people assuming you're denouncing the placebo portion of a randomized clinical trial?

Maybe indicate otherwise? (Or explicitly state it if I'm wrong).

All of those that died during clinical trials deserve respect for signing up and helping us advance the medicine. Their death is a statistic, but not in the Stalin quote sense! It's a statistic that helped us find the treatment that will save millions.

not sure what you mean "denouncing the placebo portion of a randomized clinical trial" but I'm going to move on with my life and accept my -4 reputation :)

I meant that your original comment could have been read to imply that this placebo-recipient died a needless death. (e.g. "They should have just given him the vaccine!")

I didn't read it that way, but I could see how others would.

ah ok, I get it now. thanks.

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