"The vaccine, named RTS,S/AS01, was declared “safe and effective” in reducing deaths and severe illness after being given to 1.7 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi since 2019."
AFTER? So they gave the vaccine to 1.7 million African children BEFORE they confirmed that it was "safe and effective"?
I'm hoping that was a reporting error, not the truth.
First step is testing safety. Then you give it to a much larger group to establish the level of effectiveness, since you need a lot of data to establish that. After the effectiveness is established you would declare it safe AND effective.
It seems a lot of people misunderstand that being declared "safe" doesn't mean it's effective and being declared "effective" doesn't mean it's safe.
For example: water is safe, but it's not an effective treatment for a heart attack. And dying is an effective treatment for heartburn (it'll stop it) but it sure as hell ain't safe.
I accidentally inhaled maybe half a teaspoon of water the other day. Was coughing up mucus and even a little foam for like three days. I googled “am I in danger if I inhale a little water?” and it was like “you gon die muthafucka!”
But if I went to the ER every time google told me I was gonna die I’d be in so much debt.
Anyway I’m still here for now. I’m still coughing up weird globs of mucus at random moments.
It's the WHO who declared this safe in this writing. Obviously, there have been other authorities that approved the vaccine before injecting it to that million people.