'Extremely impressive': melanoma jab trial results excite doctors

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/03/extremely-impressive-melanoma-jab-trial-results-excite-doctors

by pseudolus • 2 years ago

36 42 2 years ago

temp0826• 2 years ago

Off-topic but have we always called vaccines "jabs"? Or is it just a post-COVID thing? (I don't recall seeing it prior, and it almost feels like a dog-whistle to trigger/discourage the anti-vax types.)

kstrauser3• 2 years ago

Triggering the “it’s a shot, not a vaccine” gang is like shooting fish in a barrel.

rvnx3• 2 years ago

a shot you may do a few times per year and still get the disease

axxl• 2 years ago

I saw it a lot in The Economist so I assumed it was some sort of British-ism?

chucksta2• 2 years ago

Don't know why you are being down voted, its common UK English for a shot.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/04/why-do-we-call...

davorak• 2 years ago

I assumed it was an England maybe UK thing. That is the only geographic area I have heard the term used consistently both on the web and BBC and other UK entertainment.

If it is only a post covid England/UK thing let me know I was/am assuming it was around beforehand.

drawfloat• 2 years ago

It's always been a standard term in the UK. There's no conspiracy.

Turing_Machine• 2 years ago

There are many examples where the British version of a term is more felicitous than the American version.

"Jab" for "injection" is not one of them. It grates on the eyeballs, or at least my eyeballs.

It's as if we suddenly decided to call surgery "gashing".

burnished• 2 years ago

I saw it's use in the before times, though personally did not associate it for the article title (assumed it referenced a biopsy or something)

ada1981• 2 years ago

I think it’s just a sensational clickbait type headline.

But I roll my eyes at the phrase “jab”.

It conjures images of Bill Deblasio asking about a “burger element” on TV trying to trade French fries and burgers for vaccines.

chucksta2• 2 years ago

Its a post covid thing here, but has been common in the UK for a long time. I imagine it sounded better during covid in the US than our traditional terms.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/04/why-do-we-call...

A_D_E_P_T• 2 years ago

A primary investigator on the study, oncologist Prof Georgina Long, said the average risk of recurrence after surgery for the cohort of advanced cancer patients was 50%.

The world's most terrifying coin flip. Especially as melanoma kills when it spreads to other tissues -- like the brain and lungs. If you're on the wrong end of that coin flip, and the recurrence comes up in a bad spot, you're in serious trouble.

There are many cancers -- like thyroid cancer -- that are rarely fatal at their site of origin. They kill when they recur in distant tissues. Anything to reduce the odds of recurrence in such cancers can have outsized positive effects on mortality.

The vaccine and the Keytruda brought the risk of recurrence down to 25%, Long said. However, she cautioned the results were a “signal” with a larger trial needed to evaluate the true impact better.

This is an outstanding result, and one hopes that it can also extend to other types of cancer.

There's really no reason to delay offering cancer sufferers that treatment, even if the benefit is only a "signal."

'Extremely impressive': melanoma jab trial results excite doctors

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