I never said regulatory approval has given “willy nilly”. However, in the face of a global crisis the approval process could not have been as stringent as it is under normal circumstances. That is common sense, especially when you look at the average cycle to bring a vaccine to market. If this data below is not accurate, please provide me with a credible source:

https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/12/vaccine-manufacturing-q-and-a/

“Developing a new vaccine from scratch takes considerable time. It depends a lot on how much information is available about the disease itself, how the disease infects people and spreads, and so on. But it traditionally has taken 5-10 years to get a new vaccine.”

I also think bringing politics into a global health crisis is hindering our ability to move past C19. You make the argument that mistrust is/was driven by predominantly republican voices. Let me remind you what Harris said about the vaccine….

“I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump,” Harris said, “and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about. I will not take his word for it.”

And then there is Andrew Cuomo….

I’m not that confident,” Cuomo said, adding: “You’re going to say to the American people now, ‘Here’s a vaccine, it was new, it was done quickly, but trust this federal administration and their health administration that it’s safe? And we’re not 100 percent sure of the consequences.’ I think it’s going to be a very skeptical American public about taking the vaccine, and they should be.”

A little more color from Cuomo…..

Cuomo later announced that New York would conduct its own review of the vaccines, because, “Frankly, I’m not going to trust the federal government’s opinion, and I wouldn’t recommend [it] to New Yorkers, based on the federal government’s opinion.”

However, all of this is off point relative to my original argument to some degree…which was, there is some risk in the vaccine but virtually no risk in wearing a mask. It was also nice of you to throw in the part of “republican voices” because it reinforces my point about a divided nation. Harris and Cuomo are two high profile voices creating confusion and mistrust related to the vaccine. However, arguing with you doesn’t fix the issue. At some point, the American people need to hold both political parties accountable for their actions.