No, it’s not meaningless. That’s hyperbole and a misunderstanding of what’s going on.
That story was all over the headlines not because it was normal. It was in headlines, and in the front of your mind, because it was the exception that proves the rule. That’s not typical.
Regardless, the FDA approval was mostly about assessing safety of the drug in controlled trials and follow-ups. Likewise, the vaccine studies were rigorous examinations of safety and an in-depth search for warning signs that might indicate problems in small populations. The correct interpretation of this approval is to see that it has been thoroughly examined for safety in the field.
Finally, we already have mountains of evidence that the vaccine is effective. That much is not in question after administering an incredible number of doses globally and observing the outcomes. Proving efficacy was the least of the FDA’s concerns at this point.
> That story was all over the headlines not because it was normal.
It was in the headlines because it is normal, and some people were trying to improve the system but they failed. There are tons of existing drugs that have been approved based on surrogate endpoints, e.g. iirc the entire class of statin drugs.
That story was all over the headlines not because it was normal. It was in headlines, and in the front of your mind, because it was the exception that proves the rule. That’s not typical.
Regardless, the FDA approval was mostly about assessing safety of the drug in controlled trials and follow-ups. Likewise, the vaccine studies were rigorous examinations of safety and an in-depth search for warning signs that might indicate problems in small populations. The correct interpretation of this approval is to see that it has been thoroughly examined for safety in the field.
Finally, we already have mountains of evidence that the vaccine is effective. That much is not in question after administering an incredible number of doses globally and observing the outcomes. Proving efficacy was the least of the FDA’s concerns at this point.