Get Your Flu Shot!
COVID-19 vaccines are important, but so are flu shots. They are safe, effective, and protect others (the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those too young to get the vaccine).
The dumpster diving VAERS preprint debacle: How did we get here?
Last week, SBM devoted a lot of digital ink to a poorly done study analyzing the VAERS database for myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination that was widely publicized to imply that the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease. Three out of the four authors should have known better, leading me to ask: How did we get here?
Intubations and Accusations: Doctors were “just going crazy, and intubating people who did not have to be intubated”
It's problematic when a paragon of evidence-based medicine claims vaccines spread disease and amplifies internet rumors that doctors killed COVID-19 patients through premature intubations.
Myocarditis and how to think about it… like a cardiologist
In response to the dumpster-diving VAERS study published earlier this month, pediatric cardiologist and guest blogger Dr. Frank Han adds context by explaining how cardiologists think about and diagnose myocarditis.
A Very Serious Book Review: The Heroic Adventures of Kid Ki’ro
An Australian chiropractor has written a children's book extoling the virtues of the profession in a most elliptical fashion.
More Thoughts on the VAERS Pre-Print
A recent pre-print inappropriately used VAERS to calculated the rate of myocarditis after the COVID-19 vaccine. However, even if the rate was correct, the article glosses over the dangers of the virus and the efficacy of the vaccine.
Desktop Genetics
We seem to be in the middle of a revolution in genetics research, which has just taken another leap forward.
Preventing Malaria: A Glimmer of Hope?
A recent clinical trial tested a new approach to malaria prevention involving monoclonal antibodies.
Dumpster diving in the VAERS database to find more COVID-19 vaccine-associated myocarditis in children
"Dumpster diving" is a term used to describe studies using data from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System database by authors, almost always antivaxxers, who don't understand its limitations. Last week, non-antivax doctors who should know better fell into this trap when they promoted their study suggesting that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are more dangerous to children than the disease.
Peer review of a VAERS dumpster dive
A new preprint study on COVID vaccine myocarditis dives into the VAERS dumpster with predictable and embarrassing results.