CoVax

In truth, the discussion reminds me of when Pfizer had to recall celecoxib. It’s a lovely idea, inhibiting COX2 but not COX1, to get anti-inflammatory pain relief for arthritis sufferers, without the stomach ulcers caused by aspirin (which inhibits both COX1 and COX2).

But… sooner or later heart attacks started showing up. Now, you expect some heart attacks, just as the background rate, as you note here. But if you’re comparing it with aspirin, which is cardio-protective, you expect to see more heart attacks than with just aspirin, even if celecoxib is heart-neutral.

It’s only when you see statistically significantly more than that many that you start worrying about whether celecoxib is a problem. Though I more or less recall they were vilified in the media, Pfizer seemed to take action immediately once it became clear that there were more heart attacks than expected.

It was the right thing to do. The public never much accepted that, but it was still the right thing to do in terms of saving lives.

BNT-162b2 (doesn’t it deserve a better name?!) is going to be like that, I bet.