The man in the street is his best first responder. He has to live in his own skin.
There is risk to everything. The man in the street MUST retain the right to control what goes in to his body and what doesn’t. What optional medical care he gets and what optional medical care he doesn’t. Because as you say, when there is doubt or controversy over optional medical treatments, the man in the street - Joe Citizen, Joe the Plumber - needs to say, “You know what? I am not going to take this until I am satisfied that one side is correct.” Or “I am going to wait to take it until more data comes in.”
If you can’t make an informed decision, the man in the street must be allowed to say “NO”. And assumed to say no unless he explicitly says yes, because this is the position that respects the individual more than assuming they say yes and it’s up to them to say no. Especially when you don’t have enough info to make an informed decision.
Optional medical care is jsut that. It isn’t required immediately or you’ll die otherwise. going from 5 to 26 required vaccines in 30 years at earlier and earlier ages is nuts for things that the body can fight off. They even try to foist a chicken pox vaccine on people now. Chicken pox is a nuisance but is hardly ever deadly. More kids statistically will be harmed by the vaccine than the actual disease.
And I’ll throw your quesiton back at you. Haven’t you ever heard of pharma companies ever rigging test results, getting rid of scientists who wouldn’t cover up bad trials, ignoring studies showing high damage and death rates , to get a drug product out, or a vaccine out? Merck knew about SV-40 contamination in their polio vaccines and did nothing about it. Said it was all safe. It wasn’t.
Typically the way the “man in the street” makes up his mind is by picking one media source’s version of reality and acting on that. Maybe one in ten thousand actually read a research report or have the ability to determine whether a media report is accurate or even makes sense. Look at the immense popularity of the environmental movement even yet.
Given the legal environment no drug company is going to put out a drug which it knows is a killer. Have they also developed an Anti-Predatory Lawyer immunization?
American drug companies provide the world with 78-80% of the new drugs which come to market.
The “man in the street” would have rejected smallpox vaccinations, polio vaccinations and virtually every other medical advance. Unfortunately, he is a scientific know nothing.
Interesting that you mention chickenpox. I happen to know a gorgeous young woman who died from it while pregnant.
Human knowledge grows and creates the means to immunize against more and more things.
Your Horror scenario can happen but the Fugitive is not reality. Nor is there any evidence that such a story is applicable to this drug.