The facts on vaccs.

October 26, 2020 4:50 PM

Vaccine Boot Camp is an infographic that explains vaccine concepts in a clear and memorable way.
posted by storybored (12 comments total)

For reasons I don’t understand, the site was doing weird things on my phone. It made my headphones misbehave, and also registered a few triple-button-presses.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 5:08 PM on October 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

The content was great, though.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 5:09 PM on October 26, 2020

That site crashed my iPad. I think that's a first. I've never seen an app crash the device.
posted by jimfl at 6:14 PM on October 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Their claim that only 6% of vaccine candidates are approved is poorly sourced and probably not right. This recent review puts the number at more like 40%. I've always heard that 20% of biologics that start the trials process get approved and less than 10% of small molecule drug candidates. Vaccines as a category of therapeutic are much better understood than either of those so 40% seems more in line with expectations.
posted by euphorb at 6:26 PM on October 26, 2020 [4 favorites]

That was a really nice explanation! I especially liked the illustrations of the six different kinds of vaccines.
posted by biogeo at 7:00 PM on October 26, 2020

Good stuff. Thank you.
posted by justlooking at 7:07 PM on October 26, 2020

This recent review puts the number at more like 40%.

That review shows that different disease categories have more success than others; rotavirus vaccines have almost an 80% success rate, for instance. Others, of course, have worse success rates; for example, SARS coronavirus vaccines had a 0% success rate, which is the actually relevant metric. To be sure, this is amongst very few trials, but HIV also has a 0% vaccine success rate amongst almost 200 attempts.
posted by Superilla at 9:12 PM on October 26, 2020 [4 favorites]

I had problems with my phone after clicking on this link too.
posted by BoscosMom at 10:36 PM on October 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Does anyone know if there would be a benefit to taking more than one of these types of vaccine? Do they ever put more than one type together in a single vaccine?
posted by sexyrobot at 11:42 PM on October 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Do they ever put more than one type together in a single vaccine

Yes. Sometimes multiple diseases (MMR), sometimes multiple strains (Pneumovax is 23-valent).

The problem with this approach is that it tends to rile up the anti-vaxxers who come with zingers like "Too many, too soon." There's enough hesitation about a covid vaccine already that this is a legit concern.

tl;dr, vaccination programs are about 10% development and 90% persuasion of the general public.
posted by basalganglia at 9:33 AM on October 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Does not work on my iPad. Crashes when you scroll to the six vaccine types. But was cool up till then!
posted by freecellwizard at 9:01 AM on October 28, 2020

Sorry, I didn't mean 2 or more different vaccines together, but 2 or more of the different kinds of the same vaccine, like the different types in the article, put together to increase effectiveness. Eg: a live attenuated covid vaccine+ a virus-like particle covid vaccine.
posted by sexyrobot at 9:53 AM on October 28, 2020