by Greg Mayer
Mark Mulligan, a vaccine researcher at NYU, was asked by NBC News if he was optimistic about the prospects for the covid-19 vaccine he is working on. He replied,
This is the nice thing about science. You don’t have to have faith or belief.
(NBC’s transcript, for some reason, edited out “. . . nice thing about . . .”.)
Encouraging.
This comment from the NBC reporter caught my ear: “because it’s natural it is also believed to be safe.” 🙂
Same here. That little comment annoyed me.
🎯🎯🎯
I will file that with governor Cuomos’ statement that ” God did not stop the spread of the virus…”. All good to hear.
“This is the nice thing about science. You don’t have to have faith or belief.”
A fine sentiment that I would certainly agree with; but in response to the question “Are you optimistic about the prospects of the covid-19 vaccine you’re working on,” it seems a bit evasive.
You didn’t even bother to watch the video did you. He was not evasive. The reporter asked him if he was optimistic about this new type of vaccine compared to other types of vaccines. His answer was, “Yes, I’m optimistic. But the data will speak for themselves, Tom.T his is the nice thing about science. You don’t have to have faith or belief.”
In what sense, exactly, was he evasive? He was guardedly optimistic, with the wait and see attitude of a scientist. If you didn’t have a history of making these kind of misguided responses, I wouldn’t be so irked.
You’re right–I didn’t watch the video; I did follow the link you provided for the transcript but for some reason couldn’t find it–you might check that.
In other words, my comment was based solely on your reporting of the exchange, which didn’t include the hardly evasive response, “Yes, I’m optimistic.” Hasty of me no doubt, but certainly not intended to irritate. Following WEIT is a daily boon, especially in these trying times. Thanks for all the hard work.
First of all, I didn’t put up that post–the name “Greg Mayer” is clearly at the top. I didn’t report anything. This shows again that you didn’t read the post
Second, the link in the post works; it goes right to the video.