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February 19, 20215:00 AM ET
RICHARD HARRIS
Tens of thousands of people who volunteered to be in studies of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are still participating in follow-up research. But some key questions won't be easily answered, because many people who had been in the placebo group have now opted to take the vaccine.
Even so, there's valuable information to be had in the planned two-year follow-up studies.
... He (Dr. Carlos Fierro) suspects those individuals got spooked by rumors about the vaccine. But everybody else who had the placebo shot went ahead and got the actual vaccine. So now Fierro has essentially no comparison group left for the ongoing study.
"It's a loss from a scientific standpoint, but given the circumstances I think it's the right thing to do," he says.
... Dr. Steven Goodman, a clinical trials specialist at Stanford University, says losing those control groups makes it more difficult to answer some important questions about COVID-19 vaccines.
RICHARD HARRIS
Tens of thousands of people who volunteered to be in studies of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are still participating in follow-up research. But some key questions won't be easily answered, because many people who had been in the placebo group have now opted to take the vaccine.
Even so, there's valuable information to be had in the planned two-year follow-up studies.
... He (Dr. Carlos Fierro) suspects those individuals got spooked by rumors about the vaccine. But everybody else who had the placebo shot went ahead and got the actual vaccine. So now Fierro has essentially no comparison group left for the ongoing study.
"It's a loss from a scientific standpoint, but given the circumstances I think it's the right thing to do," he says.
... Dr. Steven Goodman, a clinical trials specialist at Stanford University, says losing those control groups makes it more difficult to answer some important questions about COVID-19 vaccines.