science

Coronavirus: Government’s Covid vaccine data ‘providing material for conspiracy theorists’ | News | The Times
“Statisticians lambasted the Health and Security Agency for its weekly vaccine surveillance report, which erroneously suggests that vaccines make you more likely to contract Covid.” The denominator problem explained.
(tags: covid19 vaccination science mathematics statistics medicine)

How the beach ‘super-spreader’ myth may have hampered UK Covid reaction | World news | The Guardian
“News that no outbreaks were linked to beach trips highlights important message about outdoor transmission, says expert”
(tags: pandemic coronavirus beach science)
Kate Bingham: Why UK strategy on Covid vaccines has been a great success – la Repubblica
“An exclusive interview by “Die Welt” and “La Repubblica” to the former Chair of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce: what Boris Johnson said when he appointed her, the secrets of UK success, what Britain did and the EU didn’t, the “fake news” of doses from Germany to Britain, the future of Coronavirus vaccines, what she thinks of Sputnik, the role of Sir Patrick Vallance, why it’s correct to delay the second dose, why a global response is the only answer and why manufacturing vaccines is so complicated: “You do not build a racing car from scratch in 6 hours””
(tags: vaccination vaccine covid19 pandemic medicine)

COVID-19: what health experts could and could not predict | Nature Medicine
Devi Sridhar in Nature: “Nearly a year after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, it is time to look back and assess what could have been predicted by health experts.”
(tags: science covid19 pandemic medicine)
I thrived on the tension and drama of British politics. Then I had a heart attack | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
“I lived for the nerve-shredding rollercoaster of Westminster. But the stress got under my skin, and into my blood”
(tags: twitter Politics brexit journalism health)
I’d love to ignore ‘Covid sceptics’ and their tall tales. But they make a splash and have no shame | Media | The Guardian
Neil O’Brien on the fantasies of those in the media, and beyond, who oppose lockdown. There have been a few articles like this recently, hopefully it marks a tide rising against the loonies.
(tags: covid19 science lockdown pandemic)
Rise of the Coronavirus Cranks – Quillette
Another demolition of the smiley face crew.
(tags: twitter pandemic covid19 science)

Yes, PCR tests can detect “the COVID virus” – Virology Down Under
The latest conspiracy theories allege that the test doesn’t work, so it’s interesting to see in explained.
(tags: pcr covid19 medicine biology science)
Johnson: The boy king who can’t grow up
“The ultimate problem with Johnson’s lack of seriousness is that he does not take the British people seriously. That is to say, he is a child who also treats us as children. He lies and jokes and tries to cheer people up, but never levels with us as adults. And so he has never confessed to the damage of Brexit. In the summer he declared it our “patriotic duty” to go to the pub. And last week he declared we should behave “fearlessly” in the face of the virus. Everyone must be mollycoddled or condescended to. The sordid reality must never be spoken.”
(tags: politics covid19 pandemic)