For Those Who Say the Science is Settled

The London Times – May 11, 1987   The BBC, 2010: Smallpox demise linked to spread of HIV infection.  Both (directly opposed) conclusions came from studying the same phenomenon:  smallpox vaccinations used widely in Africa in the mid 1970s, followed by an explosion of AIDS a few years later. Smallpox vaccinations followed a ‘ring’ strategy,…

Although no significant improvements in drug safety occurred while he was FDA Commissioner from 2002 to 2004, Dr. McClellan now acknowledges the need for improved safety surveillance at FDA, in a commentary in the April 26, 2007 New England Journal of Medicine. This issue contains several articles on FDA assessment of drug safety. Jerry Avorn,…

Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton’s healthcare economist who has previously been featured in this blog, has posted a very interesting article to his NY Times blog. In it, he dissects the various roles of the healthcare system, using the German model to explain how some roles can be performed by government and others by private health insurance…

1.  Diagnostic information.  Describe the specific features of the disease in the US (symptoms and signs) so doctors will be able to clinically distinguish most COVID-19 cases from other respiratory infections like colds, influenza, pneumonias, allowing them to isolate, quarantine, treat respiratory infections more sensibly.  CDC and NIH say they will publish articles on this…

APIC is the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.  Its President and most officers are RNs, but no particular qualifications are required for membership, apart from a $175 annual fee.  An August 31, 2009 APIC announcement says, “The association’s more than 12,000 members direct infection control programs that save lives and improve the…

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-zoom-class-gets-covid/ For nearly two years, we’ve wondered how this will end. In retrospect, the clue is in how it began.  The initial lockdowns had a strong class-based component. The working classes were assigned the job of delivering groceries, tending to the sick, driving the trucks filled with goods, keeping the lights on, and keeping the…