2515: Vaccine Research

2021-09-14T21:36:23Z

172.69.71.157: /* Explanation */ IAiming for more neutral phrasing, and a more credible rationale for the understatement.

{{comic
| number = 2515
| date = September 14, 2021
| title = Vaccine Research
| image = vaccine_research.png
| titletext = Honestly feel a little sheepish about the amount of time and effort I spent confirming "yes, the vaccine helps protect people from getting sick and dying" but I guess everyone needs a hobby.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VACCINE RESEARCH HOBBYIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic starts with [[White Hat]] using a common conversational tactic used by vaccine skeptics, and other conspiracy theorists, in order to try to persuade others, typically claiming that they did their own research. The phrase "done my own research" is often taken to mean that the speaker is skeptical of the topic, and has done only cursory fact-checking, typically consulting only nonscientific sources that confirm and validate their prior beliefs. However, subverting expectations, it seems that White Hat genuinely had researched the subject deeply, consulting a large number of primary sources, and coming to a non-skeptical conclusion. In the last panel, it shows White Hat as he asks if people are trying to give them to lots of people, to which [[Cueball]] responds with understated irony. He could be humoring White Hat for fear that revealing the scale of the vaccine rollout could cause White Hat to change his mind; but it is arguably more logical that he is playing along with White Hat's own irony, since it stretches credulity that one could read "hundreds of studies" on the vaccine most of which mention the number of recipients, and yet somehow remain ignorant of the scale of the rollout.

So far, only about 42.3 % of the world population have been vaccinated against COVID-19. In low income countries, this rate is as low as 1.9%.<ref>https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations</ref>

In the title text, Randall comments that he has spent way too much time researching the vaccines, commenting that there has only been confirmation of his previous beliefs.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are standing in an empty panel talking.]
:White Hat: I've been hearing about vaccines.
:White Hat: But I decided to do my ''own'' research.

:[In a frameless panel, White Hat and Cueball are standing in an empty panel talking.]
:White Hat: So I spent months on the Internet reading hundreds of studies.

:[Close up on White Hat's head]
:White Hat: And wow, I gotta say,
:White Hat: these vaccines are pretty good.
:Cueball (off-panel): Oh, really.

:[Zoomed back out, same situation as before.]
:White Hat: Yeah, seems like it'd be great if lots of people got them.
:White Hat: Is anyone working on that?
:Cueball: There's been some effort.
:White Hat: Okay, cool.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19_vaccine]]

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:2515: Vaccine Research

2021-09-14T21:20:25Z

172.69.71.157: Couple comments.

Too bad White Hat and Randall didn't bother to research the other half of the question. YES, vaccines work to save lives. But There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, and you need to research *both* sides of any question, not just the side you agree with.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:52, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
: I really don't want this to turn into a long debate, but how do you know White Hat/Randall didn't find anything about the risks of vaccines? They never claim that and the fact that White Hat calls the vaccines "pretty good" instead of something like "perfect" would suggest he's aware of the downsides but considers the benefits to outweigh the risks. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 13:27, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
:: Since that's left ambiguous (deliberately?), one possible reading of the comic is as a joke on how "my own research" just reinforces prior beliefs, whatever they were. This reading doesn't play as well with the understatement in the punchline, though. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.157|172.69.71.157]] 21:20, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
I don't trust the "scientists", so I decided to do my own research. Anyway, I need 5000 people for a double-blind clinical trial, so DM me if you know anyone interested.
[[User:Svízel přítula|Svízel přítula]] ([[User talk:Svízel přítula|talk]]) 13:25, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
: That's exactly where I thought this comic was going to go when I read the first panel. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.217|172.68.133.217]] 18:07, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
I'm unsure whether I'd call Cueball's response "nonchalant", nor that there's any indication as to his motives being deceptive. I read it more as US-style "irony", or UK-style "understatement as intensifier". --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.157|172.69.71.157]] 21:20, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

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2515: Vaccine Research

Talk:2515: Vaccine Research