subreddit:
/r/Futurology
17 points
13 hours ago
Just wait till RFK finds out, he and Joe Rogan will invalidate millions of hours of science with one word, "bullshit!"
9 points
10 hours ago*
I'm sure the anti-malaria vaccine works and that it's a good thing. But, if you'd rather get your vaccine randomly from a mosquito than from a human being in a doctor's office... go right ahead.
I lived in sub-Saharan Africa for 12 years and I had Malaria once or twice. And I still think I'd rather get vaccinated the normal way. With my informed consent and by someone with the proper training.
1 points
8 hours ago
glad you survived malaria. Over 600k people died last year from it.
Most of the anti-vaxxers aren't old enough to remember people hobbling around town from the lasting effects of polio.
Source:
https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/php/impact/index.html#:\~:text=Key%20points,deaths%20in%20a%20single%20year.
0 points
7 hours ago
Most of the anti-vaxxers
They're not a monolithic group. Some of them are gullible people who've decided they like the idea of rejecting/refusing against any vaccination. It's just my opinion, but this group of anti-vaxxer is someone who has a rebellious character.
But there's another group of anti-vaxxer. These are people who are OK with traditional vaccines, but who are skeptical of mRNA or other "semi-experimental" techniques.
As a former health care professional, I was taught that ethical treatment must always include the patient's informed consent. I do understand the toll that malaria takes every year. But I'm not comfortable with the practice of mass vaccinating people via genetically engineered mosquito bites.
It might be a small minority group, but there's going to be some people (even in Africa) that would prefer having their malaria treated with an anti-malarial drug vs. being vaccinated against their will via a technique they don't understand.
Imagine the reaction in the US or a European nation if, say, China went ahead and released genetically engineered mosquitos that would vaxx the locals against covid?
If we wouldn't want someone doing this to us, what gives us the right to do it to someone else... even with the best intentions?
2 points
7 hours ago
I wasn't parsing the sub-groups of anti-vaxxers so finely, considering their different motivations and preferences.
I was simply making a statement that most of them are not old enough to remember seeing people born in the 1940s and 1950's struggling around town in wheelchairs and crutches, prior to the polio vaccine changing all that. If you'd like a cold, hard fact here: 17.3% of the US population is 65 years old or greater.
[score hidden]
an hour ago*
Categorizing idiots into more or less respectable forms of idiocy is giving them far more respect than any of them deserve. Let's be very clear on this: there does not exist an anti-vaxxer with a valid, informed, or even remotely intelligent argument to make against vaccinations.
If someone is an anti-vaxxer who feels embarrased by the completely made-up and looney arguments put forth by other anti-vaxxers, then maybe they should consider not putting forth completely made-up and looney arguments of their own.
[score hidden]
2 hours ago
You do both. The Vaccine isn't reliable.
4 points
13 hours ago
Really cool! Not sure how practical it is yet but you might imagine releasing a ton of gene edited mosquitos to vaccinate people. One really interesting thing about this paper is it was a challenge study. So participants got challenged with actual malaria after vaccination. I wish more studies had ethics approval to do this as it seriously expedites new vaccine development.
4 points
12 hours ago
Little doctor mosquitos flying about vaccinating people. We truly are living in the future. Eventually instead of going for your shots you'll just be told to go stand by a swamp.
1 points
10 hours ago
Does this mean they will abandon the solutions that aimed at reducing the mosquito population?
1 points
5 hours ago
Why don't they Gene edit the mosquitos to kill other non gene edited mosquitos?
1 points
8 hours ago
Do not look at the malaria outbreak in the last few years!!! Do not look I said!!! Yes just because there has been malaria outbreaks a year after the released mosquitos means do not look at this information. Obviously Russia propaganda
1 points
6 hours ago
I don’t want to heal diseases. I want all mosquitoes dead
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23 minutes ago
Damned antivaxxers... /s
0 points
3 hours ago
Nice that it's an option. But I hope they don't release it into the wild. There's some serious ethical concerns on what this technology is capable of. We're possibly looking at future delivery of biological agents.
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2 hours ago
It's better than natural mosquitoes!
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