Ciara McMillan Profile picture
Biomedical researcher, girly swot. Still 48%, no I won’t get over it.
💬 Profile picture Charlie Helps FRSA ⚛️❣️💙🖤🤍 Profile picture 2 subscribed
Sep 28, 2021 8 tweets 3 min read
On #COVID vaccination for the 12-15 age group:

In children with preexisting conditions (eg poorly-controlled asthma) the risks of COVID infection clearly outweigh the risks of vaccination. The vaccine should be recommended in this group. This is in line with JCVI guidance.

1/🧵 For otherwise healthy 12-15 year olds, the decision is more nuanced. The JCVI correctly note that the margin of benefit is too small to support universal vaccination.

However, @CMO_England said that this group should be offered the vaccine. Some find this controversial...

2/🧵
Sep 28, 2021 15 tweets 5 min read
A #COVID stats guide:
What's worse, a disease with higher transmissibility, or one with higher fatality rate?

Intuitively, it's "obvious" that the less-fatal, more-transmissible disease is preferable, so we shouldn't be scared of the Delta variant, right?

Wrong
1/🧵 A lot of people make this mistake, which is fine. Statistics can be counterintuitive, but here's a worked example to help you make sense of it.

Keeping the numbers simple: imagine an asymptomatic disease with reproductive rate (R) of 1 and a fatality rate of 1%.

2/🧵
#COVID
Oct 14, 2019 6 tweets 2 min read
Still believe this to be true. 8 months on, and it’s clearer than ever that a “No Plan” No Deal Brexit will lead to Scotland’s division and Ireland’s union. It will be hard to keep Ireland divided when customs and regulations will be kept aligned north and south, with GB diverging....
Oct 8, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
To the racist liars at @ LeaveEUOfficial:
1. The World Wars were won by the Allies, in which the UK fought alongside their European and American friends, without whom we'd have lost.
2. Germany has won 4 World Cups. England has won 1, in the only final they ever reached. Ironically, this tweet highlights the England-centric mania of Brexit. LeaveEU clearly aren't giving a thought to the Welsh, Northern Irish or Scottish nations here.
Oct 5, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
A #Brexit thought experiment:

Imagine we have left the EU. Our businesses no longer have to comply with EU regulations. You have a business that makes widgets. Do you:

A) Comply with all other countries’ regs but miss out a step that meets EU regs?

B) Continue to meet EU regs? Note that since you’re already producing the widgets within the EU, you’ve already taken the steps to meet the regulations, so if you decide to stop meeting EU regs you’re cutting yourself off from your existing EU export market.
Aug 30, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
Unbelievable. Thank you. @BBCr4today actually have someone on right now explaining Relative Risk vs Absolute risk. So they actually do have someone in the building who understands statistics! This guy.

statisticsviews.com/details/news/1…
Aug 24, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
Name your top 5 absolutely flawless movies. Can't have a "meh" bit that you tolerate, I'm talking totally flawless.

Mine:
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Godfather (1972)
Forrest Gump (1994)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Manchester by the Sea (2016) Some fantastic suggestions. Remember I’m not looking for “good in their day”, or “critically acclaimed,” but rather movies that you personally regard every scene as flawless and wouldn’t change a thing.
Aug 14, 2019 9 tweets 1 min read
Leaving the EU without a deal is the functional equivalent of leaving the house without your keys. You’ll survive, but you’re going to be significantly worse off. Oh, and all the locksmiths are inside your house, and you have pissed them off something rotten.
Aug 12, 2019 4 tweets 1 min read
Some Twitter help please. This “Piano In 21 Days” course has made the creator tons of cash, but I can’t find any real people on Twitter actually discussing it. Have you done it? Did you learn anything useful? The 5-day preview stuff is REALLY basic. Please RT for larger sample. To clarify, I know you can’t learn to play properly in that time, so all that can really be taught is improvisation within a basic structure. But is there an “a-ha!” moment that can help me do more than noodle around with the “white key chords” (C/F/G-maj, A/D/E-min?).
Mar 3, 2019 4 tweets 2 min read
The dept for exiting EU (DExEU) estimate that an #nodeal Brexit will cost the UK £158bn per year. That’s £3bn per WEEK. Dwarfs the “£350m per week” we were supposed to save.

Good work, lads. Thanks a bunch.

#RevokeA50 But never mind the cost, you say. Think of the benefits!

🥳 2,800,000 jobs lost!

🤪Abandoning our controls on food safety!

🤩Getting worse deals with Japan and the USA due to our weakened bargaining power! Hooray!
Feb 6, 2019 4 tweets 3 min read
My prediction: if we proceed to a #NoDealBrexit this year, Scotland will have a second #IndependenceReferendum within 6 months, which will succeed. Northern Ireland will have a #BorderPoll within a further 5 years.

I don't want it, but I feel at this point it's inevitable. It appears that the UK government want to hasten this outcome. Maybe my timeline was too long.

Jan 31, 2019 17 tweets 10 min read
I hear so many people who say they "knew what they were voting for", but I've learned so much about the EU over the past few years. Here's a selection of things #iDidNotKnow on 23 June 2016:

THREAD 1/11 #iDidNotKnow how much we rely on the EU for everyday life.
Yes, I knew about my own area (medicine), and everyone talks about trade. But in fact there are regulations that govern aviation… not to mention our huge reliance in the fight against crime.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
2/11