Sangam talk on nov 30 on #covid #vaccines

Things have moved on, but here's the full video

A few things have happened in the couple of weeks it took for the video to be cleaned up and put on youtube, but it is still relevant:

1. a apparently new and virulent strain of the virus has begun to circulate against which the existing vaccines may or may be efficacious

2. the lancet published this report on the astra zeneca/oxford vaccine which actually raises more questions that it answers

3. nobody is talking about the cost of the entire logistical operation, which I am sure is astronomical (and what is the opportunity cost?)

4. the ethical dilemmas about whom to vaccinate in what order (assuming the vaccine works and is benign) continue to bedevil the program. See this tweet from Tulsi Gabbard for an example.

   Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 @TulsiGabbard

   Heartless, arrogant, unelected CDC bureaucrats have decided that the lives of elderly Americans don’t count. They’re recommending 100 million “essential workers” (i.e. healthy people working at liquor stores or phone companies) can get the vaccine before our grandparents. (1/2)