As scientific evidence accumulated about possible vaccine dangers, the usual suspects screamed "SCIENCE!" and rushed to protect AstraZeneca: David Gorski, Steve Novella, Dorit Reiss, and David Grimes.
Marcus, I've had to delete your comment linking back to Steve Novella because that piece has factual inaccuracies and multiple bits of nonsense, like linking to the American Council on Science and Health. I don't mind the meandering and Novella's inability to address a critique, but we're not allowing anonymous accounts to link back to disinformation. Please do better in the future. Thanks.
That tweet from Reiss makes me fume. Typically for these kinds of people, she actually has no idea how the damn thing works. Once the mRNA has prompted the cell to start producing spike protein we have no idea how long that process will continue. The mRNA is encapsulated to prevent it from expiring rapidly. We actually have no idea how long that will persist. The downstream effects of these things are completely unknown and comparisons with other vaccines are comparing apples to Volkswagens. Utterly brainless. Apologies for the rant, but these people apparently just don't give a damn who they harm.
I am not sure why you have included the American Council on Science and Health in your tweet on this issue. If you look at our writing on the topic I do not believe you will find anything of concern. Science takes time to uncover causal links, far longer than associative links. The decisions to reinforce the need for a risk-benefit consideration and the decisions to restrict the AZ and now J&J vaccine to subgroups are completely consistent with science. That is what we have argued. I believe that you are confusing the facts, the numbers, and characteristics of those will acute or semi-acute adverse reactions with how individuals, like you and me, tie them together in a narrative.
Marcus, I've had to delete your comment linking back to Steve Novella because that piece has factual inaccuracies and multiple bits of nonsense, like linking to the American Council on Science and Health. I don't mind the meandering and Novella's inability to address a critique, but we're not allowing anonymous accounts to link back to disinformation. Please do better in the future. Thanks.
That tweet from Reiss makes me fume. Typically for these kinds of people, she actually has no idea how the damn thing works. Once the mRNA has prompted the cell to start producing spike protein we have no idea how long that process will continue. The mRNA is encapsulated to prevent it from expiring rapidly. We actually have no idea how long that will persist. The downstream effects of these things are completely unknown and comparisons with other vaccines are comparing apples to Volkswagens. Utterly brainless. Apologies for the rant, but these people apparently just don't give a damn who they harm.
Mr. Thacker,
I am not sure why you have included the American Council on Science and Health in your tweet on this issue. If you look at our writing on the topic I do not believe you will find anything of concern. Science takes time to uncover causal links, far longer than associative links. The decisions to reinforce the need for a risk-benefit consideration and the decisions to restrict the AZ and now J&J vaccine to subgroups are completely consistent with science. That is what we have argued. I believe that you are confusing the facts, the numbers, and characteristics of those will acute or semi-acute adverse reactions with how individuals, like you and me, tie them together in a narrative.