My interview yesterday with Kristina Borjesson on all things Monkeypox

It’s not that hard to read between the lines… These slides I made for a talk 2 years ago this month.

Spiriva had an unusual marketing strategy when it came out:  I was told (while eating a free lunch) it was a great drug, but could take a very long time to show benefit:  therefore, give it to patients for 6 months before concluding lack of benefit.  A six month trial cost the patient about $1,000….

https://khn.org/news/article/medical-boards-pressured-to-let-it-slide-when-doctors-spread-covid-misinformation/ Tennessee’s Board of Medical Examiners unanimously adopted in September a statement that said doctors spreading covid misinformation — such as suggesting that vaccines contain microchips — could jeopardize their license to practice. This story is part of a partnership that includes Nashville Public Radio, NPR and KHN. It can be republished for free. “I’m very glad that we’re…

Today’s Guardian discusses a draft report by UK MP Paul Flynn on the European response to the swine flu epidemic.  Titled “WHO accused of losing pubic confidence over flu pandemic,” it includes the following: In Britain, says Flynn, the discrepancy between the estimate of the numbers of people who would die from flu and the…

I was glad to see this piece, which explains that public horror at “Total Information Awareness” caused it to be cancelled in 2003–only to have a much grander, insidious and dangerous NSA program grow up in its place. The current program lacks two critical pieces, including a way to track and record who accesses data…

SARS-CoV (the first SARS virus) and its cousin SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing our current pandemic) are classified by the US government as Select Agents, organisms that pose a significant threat to humans, and could be used for bioterrorism.  The current Select Agent program came into being after the 2001 anthrax letters event. The Department of Health…