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Medicine

Dozens of Scientists Around the World Are Giving Themselves DIY Coronavirus Vaccines (nypost.com) 143

schwit1 shares a report from the New York Post: As governments around the world scramble to approve a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus, an increasing number of scientists have started administering DIY vaccines to themselves and even their friends and family members. The methods, results, and claims have varied widely among the dozens of scientists around the world who have taken this unconventional route.

One such effort is by scientist Johnny Stine, who runs North Coast Biologics, a biotech company in Seattle. In June, Washington attorney general slapped Stine with a lawsuit for administering his DIY vaccine to San Juan Island Mayor Farhad Ghatan and around 30 people, charging them $400, the New York Times reported. Another vaccine effort going outside FDA approval is the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative, or RaDVaC, which has among its 23 collaborators Harvard geneticist George Church. Proponents have welcomed the idea of going outside the normal regulatory process, given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic. But critics say these DIY vaccines are not being put to the test of placebo-controlled studies and could have unforeseen negative consequences.

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Dozens of Scientists Around the World Are Giving Themselves DIY Coronavirus Vaccines

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  • "Scientists' (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OMBad ( 6965950 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @09:38PM (#60467826)
    Literally anyone can call themselves a "scientist". Johnny Stine isn't even a doctor.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well, if you meet a real Hulk in the street, you know he's one of these "scientists".
    • by Revek ( 133289 )
      This is true. Anyone can employ the scientific method to a problem. Science isn't a profession but a process of understanding Nothing more nothing less.
      • Science isn't a profession, but "scientist" is a profession with qualifications relevant to a claim.

        If you've irrelevant or no qualifications, you are not a scientist with respect to that claim.

    • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      Not that I'd want to lend credibility to Johnny Stine but is there some reason you'd need to be a doctor?

      I've noticed this trend among people who spend too much time in college, they confuse the education meant as ONE WAY to prepare to start your path to doing something worthwhile with the actual doing.

      Science is method, someone who as a hobby or profession engages in the pursuit of knowledge via that method is a scientist. David Ishee for example is a scientist. Pompous fools who think they are part of som

      • You can come up with great ideas without qualifications. That's why there's peer review.

        What you can't claim is to be a scientist, without relevant qualifications.

        • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

          "You can come up with great ideas without qualifications. That's why there's peer review."

          Peer review is a system of blocking people who have great ideas but lack qualifications.

          Sorry but 'qualifications' are irrelevant. Everyone who does science is a scientist and nobody has any authority or right to assert otherwise. Doing good science requires knowledge, 'qualifications' are not the only way to get that knowledge. I think you are confusing academics with scientists.

          "A scientist is someone who conducts sc

          • Actually "formal qualification" is irrelevant.
            Relevant is that the review process either says the publication has merit, or has not.

            • by Shaitan ( 22585 )

              Technically yes, "formal qualification" is a more correct term. I used "qualifications" in the same manner which context indicated the GP had used it, to mean "formal." And technically it is not peer review that excludes those without "formal qualification" but since in practice that review process typically occurs in journals which require "formal qualification" to publish, in practice peer review creates a walled garden which only includes those who have learned via formal education. This is sad because f

      • The method also includes predicting your results, in advance of the experiment, and publishing your results either way. It's vital to keeping the science and the scientists honest. Science in China and other Marxist Communist states has a terrible habit of only publishing positive results.

    • What makes you think most scientists are doctors? Many of the people who do science research are undergraduates. There are even a few who do science without any formal education or degree.

  • by RyanFenton ( 230700 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @10:10PM (#60467904)

    I agree with the situational ethics for many of them- but at some point, you really have to reflect on the utter, UTTER absurdity of this scenario where this IS the ethical choice left - where the chain that binds so much of the scientific infrastructure around the world has been cut in so many places, and sold off for power and wealth in so many ways.

    Not that it's ever been perfect - but usually something like a pandemic would trigger at least some self-preservation in the populace and set the time's politicians to at least give a better public impression.

    But no - it's all pseudoscience and smokescreen, well, WELL ahead of actual science in front of the public eye, at least at the highest levels in the US at least.

    This is the oddest timeline - where this Republican War on Science has blossomed and taken root, for the most absurd reasons.

    Conservatism, I can understand - a default rejection of change quite reasonable as a exactly default - same with religious conservatism in the face of a complex universe - all quite understandable. I just can't understand this particular mutation - this Trump era of politics makes no sense, from rich to poor, it's like it's pining for a time before reason was a public concept.

    Conservatism should at least be pining for an outcome that gets you something or preventing loss - this Trump politics though just seems to lose everyone as much a possible across time, including the very notion of shared scientific ideas.

    At least we still have folks that know how to get us closer to a working Covid trreatment over time - but we're losing our ability to improve over time, to learn from our mistakes and grow - by losing science and the scientific method as a part of our culture by way of our politics for seeking corrupted 'results' driven methods.

    Ryan Fenton

    • If you try to figure out Trump in the context of conservatism, you are missing the point. Trump works as a businessman trying to solve problems quickly. Part of his method is observing that many of America's practices and standards have worked very well in the past, and should be repeated: that's related to conservatism. Another part is throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks, as part of the problem solving process, and that makes critics howl.

      Griping about not neatly adhering to the minutia

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by quonset ( 4839537 )

        Trump works as a businessman trying to solve problems quickly.

        What? He does no such thing. The only thing he does quickly is figure out how much money he can siphon from his business before it fails.

        Part of his method is observing that many of America's practices and standards have worked very well in the past, and should be repeated:

        Again, what? This is the guy who has refused to say people should wear masks, who didn't initiate quarantine protocols, who IGNORED a booklet specifically designed for this

        • by ichthus ( 72442 )

          who didn't initiate quarantine protocols, who IGNORED a booklet specifically designed for this situation because it came from a black man, who has gone out of his way to ignore the entire situation.

          Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a perfect specimen of TDS. Avoid eye contact.

          • You didn't refute a single word I said. Instead, ad hominem. This is what happens when the truth is spoken. No answer, just personal attack.

            • by ichthus ( 72442 )
              Foolish bullshit from a raving lunatic requires no direct refute. Your own moronic words were my rebuttal.
  • by Sooner Boomer ( 96864 ) <sooner.boomr @ g mail.com> on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @10:15PM (#60467920) Journal

    Oops! Sorry BOB, we mixed up the vials! That wasn't COVID-19, it was for Ebola. Wait, no... it was LIVE Ebola, not the vaccine!

  • Dozens. In the whole world. Amazing. I imagine dozens of "scientists" are also jumping into volcanos to try to stop the virus.
  • Wait -- you forgot the quotes around "Scientists"!

    Because nothing else says "I Love You" like a double-blind study that literally makes you double-blind. And that's if you're LUCKY.

    OTOH I guess if you get it right (how do you justify your proof?) you're an instant zillion-aire, and to some people it'd be worth it. At our local racetrack, I remember lots of people waiting at the $100 window while I think I'm foolish spending $2 on a ticket at a time there for entertainment.
    • Even if you get it right, you're not an instant zillionaire. The public is still going to demand trials be performed. You may come out a zillionaire eventually but you're going to have to be patient.

  • The rest of us would describe them as brain-dead guinea pigs.

  • If know how to check my own pipes why would I call a plumber?

    • That's what she said, but what if he wasn't the plumber?

    • My buddy's dad is a plumber. He gets a significant part of his business from people who "know how to check their own pipes".

      • My buddy's dad is a plumber. He gets a significant part of his business from people who "know how to check their own pipes".

        I get a significant part of my business by gutting my own bathroom down to the studs and floor joists and then running all new copper to a tub/shower, sink, and toilet. hot/cold water feeds in 1/2 inch drains in 3/4 inch. Yeah I watched videos, yeah I bought heat shields and wire brushes. Yeah i fluxed, and yeah I made sure to keep the heat off the joint and watch the solder suck in. 6 years later, no problems , and no need to call for your buddy's dad.

        And I'm a fucking amateur. These are scientist who kn

        • Hell , i'm certain that given the proper access to equipment I could run the test, you probably could too.

    • Because I want to be sure the job is done right.

      This is a great example, because I have a toilet that leaks. I turned off the water and considered my options. I could do it myself...probably. I've watched a few YouTube videos. I think I'm going to have to replace the whole thing and while that sounds simple*, I'd rather pay a professional to do it right than hope I don't make a mistake.

      Nobody wants a toilet leaking all over their bathroom floor and I'm willing to pay to make sure that doesn't happen.

      I'm

  • When you go DIY you by definition could have unforeseen negative consequences. But that's true with any vaccine, whether you go through the process or not. The difference is that the "real" vaccine process tracks those negative consequences in a liability-shielding way whereas when you DIY you set yourself up to liability claims.

  • I can't shake the feeling that the term is being used incorrectly here.
  • Reminds me of this cartoon segment -
    https://youtu.be/VEQILKohuY0?t... [youtu.be]

    There was probably similar stuff going on in the 1918 pandemic.

  • I cleared a drain once, and can change a bicycle tire, I'm ready for my next challenge. Look out rona!

  • https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0... [nytimes.com]
    or this one https://www.theatlantic.com/sc... [theatlantic.com]
    Maybe the scientists will fare better

  • I analysed what they propose - hope is important in this time - but this practice is questionable. It will not do any harm to spray peptides in your nose, but it will not provide any benefit either.
    If it was that simple, all vaccines would be administered in this way. But even injecting these peptides without provoking an immune response wouldn't provide a significant level of protection.
    Sadly there are no shortcuts.
    It's easy to protect yourself the old fashion way though; just #stayathome to #crushthecurv
  • Maybe they can open the source on these. Provide an ingredients list, a preparation procedure, and methodology.

    Then interested parties can tweak the process and come up with something.

    I wonder where they'll find some of the more sketchier ingredients.
  • Masks are very effective, there isn't that big of a rush to a vaccine if people just wear masks. Sure.. it would be nice, but testing vaccines on yourself and family doesn't really get them to market faster. It just makes you look crazy, which is probably a bad look for a scientists trying to get a vaccine to market. If you took risks and cut corners to the degree you endangered your family you may have cut corners on the research too. That's a bad way to get a vaccine to market faster.
  • Nothing good can come of this, people! But I guess, "those who do not learn from Fallout 4 are doomed to repeat it."

    (Especially when they reuse half the game assets in the sequel.)

  • Josiah Zayner and David Ishee of unnatural selection fame have been doing this alone with another woman from the Ukraine they are working with.

  • Wonder where this writer is coming from .

    This is like saying:

    The deadly flu (cause it is) the deadly cancer (cause it is) the deadly head cold (cause it can kill also)

    I suppose you could just write:

    The deadly life (cause we all die)

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