Personal thoughts on how to choose Vaccine as of date in India given tremendous uncertainty about approval/availability of Vaccines.

If you can get it "somehow" .Get a Pfizer/Moderna Vaccine . Previously it appeared that Pfizer Vaccine would come in Private Market and will be administered in Metros.
But Pfizer developed cold feet and Govt seems not interested (as Vaccine requires -70 degree for storage and distribution difficult/price high-> could precipitate health iniquity).
As a compromise ,if you are very high risk(>50,comorbidity, elderly in family). Consider taking Covishield. Hold off/get Antibody titres if you have autoimmune/neurological disease or history of severe allergic reaction as here the Vaccine has higher risk of side effects
While approval in Clinical trial mode is granted for COVAXIN . Wait for phase 3 data . (don't get sucked in by "indigenous" tag yet).
while it is promising and pretty safe,would be better to take it after efficacy data from phase 3 (that would take around 2-3 months to complete/run interim analysis, unless Infection rate falls dramatically like in Delhi.
For rest "low/normal" risk individuals->
In 2-3 months,we will have phase 3 data from lot of Vaccine candidates which can easily be distributed in India
[Novavax -> (bridging trial in India yet to start (issues about safety of adjuvant,vaccine-drug interaction)), Sputnik(Russian-> Reddy's running Bridging trial), Chinese Vaccine (Sinovac), Jansen and Janssen -single dose].
Personally I am pretty hopeful about Novavax (very high titres in Phase 1/2 studies compared to recovered patients with safety and effectiveness in preventing Infection/nasal carriage in animal studies, conventional platform and easy to distribute in India )
Even Recovered patients should consider taking Vaccine (can hold off till 3 months). Avoid taking Vaccine if you have suffered from COVID and taken Plasma therapy for it within a. Month.

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Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.