Vinay Prasad wrote a whole book on flaws in the development, testing, and marketing schemes of pharmaceutical companies producing drugs for treating cancer. (2020, MALIGNANT: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer) My husband Dale Hammerschmidt was among the oncologists who were reviewing and discussing Prasad's critiques, and I also read the book and agreed that the criticisms made sense.
When Prasad began to broaden his analysis to the substantially different process of developing and testing mRNA vaccines in the setting of a deadly pandemic, I followed his writings. He was increasingly critical of the strategies used to evaluate vaccine effectiveness and safety in large populations, strategies which my background in Public Health told me were time-tested and reliable.
My impression is that Prasad is letting his justifiable criticisms of pharmaceutical company practices in testing oncology drugs bias him against the processes used to test vaccines.
A new chemotherapy drug being tested in a patient has risks that must be balanced against the lost opportunity to try some other treatment. The selection of controls -- placebos or various other drugs -- is much more subject to manipulation than the large population studies of a new vaccine for which there is no pre-existing alternative.
I don't know what my husband would have thought of Prasad's transformation from a respected oncologist into someone who seems to be allied with RFKjr against vaccines. I think he would have been as shocked as I am.
Excellent description of what happens when an entitled worm brain is in charge. I have had my shots and was glad to have them. I am of an age where I had measles and also of an age where I got the polio vaccine after my parents were freaking out about that disease. It was a very real fear before the polio vaccine. I have also read about the discovery and work with recumbent RNA. The US has been a leader in the work done in many labs in many areas, but that may be coming to an end as well.
So well written and explained. It’s not easy to write about “medical stuff” and you did a great job. As a former journalist and college journalism teacher, I give an A+. Thank you and Bravo! And I already got my Covid shot. Oh, and I’ve also had personal experience with the Kennedy kid. But that’s another and longer story.
I just had an interesting experience. I didn't know what adjuvant meant so I googled it. First site that came up was the CDC. And my reaction was "oh no, don't trust THAT site anymore" as if it were OAN.
Google AI gave me what I wanted to know. But I thought how strange it is, this thing called trust, how fast it vanishes.
Vinay Prasad wrote a whole book on flaws in the development, testing, and marketing schemes of pharmaceutical companies producing drugs for treating cancer. (2020, MALIGNANT: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer) My husband Dale Hammerschmidt was among the oncologists who were reviewing and discussing Prasad's critiques, and I also read the book and agreed that the criticisms made sense.
When Prasad began to broaden his analysis to the substantially different process of developing and testing mRNA vaccines in the setting of a deadly pandemic, I followed his writings. He was increasingly critical of the strategies used to evaluate vaccine effectiveness and safety in large populations, strategies which my background in Public Health told me were time-tested and reliable.
My impression is that Prasad is letting his justifiable criticisms of pharmaceutical company practices in testing oncology drugs bias him against the processes used to test vaccines.
A new chemotherapy drug being tested in a patient has risks that must be balanced against the lost opportunity to try some other treatment. The selection of controls -- placebos or various other drugs -- is much more subject to manipulation than the large population studies of a new vaccine for which there is no pre-existing alternative.
I don't know what my husband would have thought of Prasad's transformation from a respected oncologist into someone who seems to be allied with RFKjr against vaccines. I think he would have been as shocked as I am.
Excellent description of what happens when an entitled worm brain is in charge. I have had my shots and was glad to have them. I am of an age where I had measles and also of an age where I got the polio vaccine after my parents were freaking out about that disease. It was a very real fear before the polio vaccine. I have also read about the discovery and work with recumbent RNA. The US has been a leader in the work done in many labs in many areas, but that may be coming to an end as well.
Your writing style is exactly like Mary's in tone, in length, in gravitas. A+
So well written and explained. It’s not easy to write about “medical stuff” and you did a great job. As a former journalist and college journalism teacher, I give an A+. Thank you and Bravo! And I already got my Covid shot. Oh, and I’ve also had personal experience with the Kennedy kid. But that’s another and longer story.
I just had an interesting experience. I didn't know what adjuvant meant so I googled it. First site that came up was the CDC. And my reaction was "oh no, don't trust THAT site anymore" as if it were OAN.
Google AI gave me what I wanted to know. But I thought how strange it is, this thing called trust, how fast it vanishes.