A ruling this March by the British pharmaceutical watchdog, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), upheld a complaint received in February 2023 alleging that Pfizer “misused” social media “to misleadingly and illegally promote their Covic vaccine.” The regulatory body ruled that based on their investigation, Pfizer had violated five rules of the code of practice of the British pharmaceutical industry.
Thanks Marianne, I can recall that it is important to distinguish absolute from relative risk. For example, a 5% absolute risk of getting sick from Covid after vaccinating is quite a meaningless figure, if, say, only 20% of the entire population gets sick. In that case, the relative risk or better, the real risk reduction would be down from a 20% to a 5% risk of getting sick with Covid. The most important issue is avoiding serious illness, hospitalisation and death, not just avoiding a flu. I don’t think we ever got high quality data on that, though people continue to claim the vaccines reduced these risks substantially. But I’m still open to being convinced otherwise.
Thank you David for this article with very relevant links to the evidence. In particular the interview of Bourla! For the Telegraph article from 2022 I couldn't access it without signing in. I would have a question about the misleading claim that the vaccine was 95% effective, without explanation that this was the relative risk. People thought: out of 95 people vaccinated only 5 will get covid, or if I'm being exposed to covid, in 95% of these occasions I will not catch it... I know this was wrong and there is an obligation for medical people to give also the absolute risk. I have forgotten the calculation, but believe that the number needed to treat to save 1 life is huge. If you have access to a recapitulation on this it would be very helpful. With all best wishes,
Thanks Marianne, I can recall that it is important to distinguish absolute from relative risk. For example, a 5% absolute risk of getting sick from Covid after vaccinating is quite a meaningless figure, if, say, only 20% of the entire population gets sick. In that case, the relative risk or better, the real risk reduction would be down from a 20% to a 5% risk of getting sick with Covid. The most important issue is avoiding serious illness, hospitalisation and death, not just avoiding a flu. I don’t think we ever got high quality data on that, though people continue to claim the vaccines reduced these risks substantially. But I’m still open to being convinced otherwise.
Thank you David for this article with very relevant links to the evidence. In particular the interview of Bourla! For the Telegraph article from 2022 I couldn't access it without signing in. I would have a question about the misleading claim that the vaccine was 95% effective, without explanation that this was the relative risk. People thought: out of 95 people vaccinated only 5 will get covid, or if I'm being exposed to covid, in 95% of these occasions I will not catch it... I know this was wrong and there is an obligation for medical people to give also the absolute risk. I have forgotten the calculation, but believe that the number needed to treat to save 1 life is huge. If you have access to a recapitulation on this it would be very helpful. With all best wishes,
Marianne