There are a number of questions surrounding the certification process which as far as I can tell revolve around what documentation and/or training of a 'new' flight control automation capability was not documented to airlines let alone crew by the manufacturer. But, do we even know;
1) If the sensor was faulty or was there a problem further down the line, AoA sensor was replaced (1 or 2 sensors depending upon source cited) and it either didn't fix one "symptom" (airspeed disagree) or make matters a whole lot worse, but still allowed the next segment to complete, albeit more harrowing then the prior 2 segments (that may have been pilot skill - refer back to Golden Rivit's post #956 and listen to Capt VanderBurgh's last 10 minutes, including China Airlines 140 and the Delta L-1011 San Diego incident? Ok you can argue whether the unfortunate toga press caused 140, but I'd suggest that happened because of stab trim gone rogue.)
2) Was the correct part installed correctly?
Interesting read on why MCAS allegedly was created for the MAX -
https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-s...em-mcas-jt610/. Take it for what it is worth as the site content was written by a media type.