When (and how) do we debate vaccine science?
Live debate rewards charm, not data.
Latest
Previous drafts of Florida’s vaccine analysis tell a very different story
You may recall Florida’s vaccine analysis released last October which claimed that mRNA vaccines are associated with increased risk of cardiac death in young men. This week, the Tampa Bay Times shared earlier, unpublished drafts of that analysis. Those earlier drafts tell a dramatically different story… The Tampa Bay
Who funds you? Explaining research funding.
If I had a nickel for every time someone has accusingly asked me “who funds you??”, I wouldn’t have enough money to buy a box of pipette tips, because research is expensive and requires funding to do much of anything. With the confusion and distrust circulating around science and
No, ER misdiagnoses are not killing 250,000 per year
You may have heard the shocking headline this week that 250,000 people die every year in the US due to misdiagnosis in the ER. You may be even more shocked to know that this statistic is extrapolated from the death of… just one man. In a Canadian ER. Over
A critical review of Florida’s new vaccine analysis
Yesterday, the Florida State Surgeon General issued new guidance around the COVID vaccines based on an analysis they performed. They say the results show “an increased risk of cardiac-related death among men 18-39” for the mRNA vaccines, and recommend this group not receive these vaccines. This is a bold recommendation.
A case study in graphs that crush my soul
I am a data visualization nerd. Even as a kid I was stealing my dad’s graph paper and finding random things to chart. When my mom was recently asked what each of her kids were into when they were young, her answer for me was “data.” (Also kittens.) Graphs
BA.5: What do you need to know?
BA.5 is now the dominant COVID variant circulating in the U.S., bringing a wave of reinfections with it. Why are so many people sounding the alarm over BA.5? What makes BA.5 different from previous variants? First, an explanation of COVID terminology: Omicron is a COVID variant
Where do new variants come from?
BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, BA.5… while we’re all getting lost in an alphanumeric soup, it’s important to understand why we continue to see new variants. Some have speculated this is evidence of engineering — that “someone” keeps putting these new variants out. Others blame
How does COVID impact the brain?
Although COVID is primarily thought of as a respiratory disease, we’re learning that COVID’s impact extends well beyond the lungs. COVID infection can damage the heart, intestines, kidneys, and —perhaps most alarmingly— the brain. By causing blood to clot more easily, COVID can trigger major clotting events like
Ninety five percent. NINETY FIVE PERCENT!
This is part 2 in a series covering the story of the COVID vaccines in the US, looking back at how well they have worked and why the communication around them has been confusing. Read part 1 here. It was late November 2020, and we were just about to start
COVID vaccination during pregnancy
Guest post by Sana Zekri, MD, a board-certified physician in Family Medicine with Obstetrics. Rumors about COVID vaccination and alleged impacts on fertility have been circulating since before the vaccines were even available. Because the initial vaccine trials did not study pregnant women specifically, when the vaccines were first authorized,
How well do the COVID vaccines work? (and why has this been so confusing?)
The COVID vaccines are undoubtedly among the most impressive medical feats in history. One model estimated they have saved millions of lives in the United States alone. As a physician-scientist, watching the scientific world come together to produce not one but multiple vaccines in a matter of months in the