I just came back to this thread to say how poorly the author's conjecture held up. Within 1 week, this was totally debunked. Safety data was released, looks great as expected, and it turns out the delay was in fact the FDA.

My country started to vaccinate kids 6 to 11 yesterday. Let's see what happens.

It is conjecture, but smart conjecture. We can only see at this point.

It does raise the important point about base rates of COVID vis-a-vis side effects, which seems to be something lost in a lot of public discussion.

I found it interesting, FWIW, even if it turns out to be completely wrong.

This is the most absurd premise I have ever heard:

"Given the urgency of the situation, we cannot rationally conclude that these committed professionals are dragging their feet unnecessarily, while lives hang in the balance; to think otherwise would be to fundamentally misunderstand the shared goal of every single person involved with the project of delivering a safe and effective vaccine to our youngest."

I thought this was a joke on first read.

The FDA banned vaccines that were almost certainly safe and effective for over 6 months to satisfy internal processes.

The FDA blocked testing of all kinds repeatedly.

The FDA banned (temporarily) J&J for no good reason, which was the biggest single cause to vaccine hesitancy.

The American Academy of Pediatrics had seen enough date weeks ago for approval, and effectively begged the FDA to act.

https://t.co/0J7mGkp9t4?amp=1

The author assumes that what is happening can't possibly be happening, and is speculating wildly on alternative explanations.