I always hesitate to amplify something I disagree with, but this flavor of messaging is extremely counterproductive. We're talking about cerebral venous sinus thrombosis specifically; claiming an apples-to-apples comparison to less serious VTE like DVT only erodes public trust.
Does the incidence of CSVT after J&J vaccine still seem much, much lower than the incidence of CSVT in women taking OCPs? Yes: 1 in 1,000,000 vs 1 in ~37,000. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
I know of no reliable evidence with which to estimate the risk of CSVT with COVID. This is the largest analysis I've found this morning, which described... 8 patients with CSVT. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
I don't say this to downplay the risks of COVID, which are numerous, varied and significant. But venous sinus thrombosis specifically is just one about which we have a paucity of data. It's facially false to say it happens to 1 in 5 patients with COVID.
@AlexJohnLondon Finally, to at least attempt to be really clear, this argument is agnostic of whether the pause is warranted or not. We should be careful in our #SciComm regardless of our stance on that issue.
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A brief 🧵 about RECOVERY: In addition to lots of people on the internet, the authors themselves make this claim in the preprint... but it is not true—and it's not a matter of opinion, it's quite clearly false. 1/
If we were concerned with whether toci's effect were neutral or beneficial it might be a fair claim; but we are concerned with whether toci helps *or harms*. 2/
We don't have data about the 269 patients who were randomized to toci and didn't receive it. Remember RECOVERY treatment teams were not blinded—they knew they were deciding whether to give toci to their patient. 3/
I'm reviewing the history of how care for patients with ESRD came to be a Medicare entitlement. Many people have heard the story in broad strokes concerning "God panels," rationing of dialysis machines, etc journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/god-pa… ...
In 1971, Shep Glazer testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in favor of the legislation. As a 43 year old with ESRD, he gave stirring and memorable testimony...
... perhaps overshadowed, however, by his receiving a hemodialysis session in the hearing room itself. Physicians and politicians alike were strongly opposed out of fear that Glazer would die during the session and taint the proposed bill...