Note: This post was moved from another thread and is out of context here. Link to the other thread is below.
A large segment of the population desperately wants a “green light”, more so the longer it takes before a vaccine is available, and I think there will be a widespread societal mentality that the final FDA approval of a vaccine is that long-awaited “green light”. It’ll be hard to know how many people have actually had the shot once distribution starts, and many people won’t care. “It’s out there so things are OK now.” I’m not a sociologist, just an observer, but I don’t think that the majority follow the news about cases, hospitalizations, deaths, etc.
For my part, the pace at which the vaccines are being pushed through for certification makes me more than a bit nervous about safety. I’ll get the shot ASAP and hope that it works as advertised, but I am concerned about potential side effects that only long-term phase three trials can expose. Which gets back to your comment about “trust in the quality of the clinical trials”.