Red
Well-Known Member
Justifiable criticism of the new paper….
www.statnews.com
A group of researchers last week released a small, preliminary paper theorizing that Covid-19 vaccines may be linked in rare cases to a constellation of lingering symptoms not dissimilar to those associated with long Covid.
They intended for their work to be the subject of academic discussion and to spur further study of what they dubbed “post-vaccination syndrome.” Instead, it has exploded online — and become a parable for the ways in which the internet is being used to weaponize basic vaccine research vital to advancing scientific knowledge about the safe use of these key products.
The study was released last Tuesday on medRxiv, a so-called preprint server where unpublished studies can be shared before they go through peer review, the process by which other scientists kick the tires, effectively, to help journals decide whether or not submitted research deserves to be published. The senior authors of the paper, immunologist Akiko Iwasaki and cardiologist Harlan Krumholz, both serious scientists, were clear in the press release they issued and interviews with STAT that these are preliminary findings that need much more study……
……One researcher, whose university — like a number right now — has told its academics to stay out of media coverage of political events, expressed exasperation at the scientists behind the study, asking: “Why on earth would you do this now if this is preliminary?” Post-vaccination syndrome “is a term that RFK will love,” this individual said.
The fact that the broadness of the term could be read to encompass vaccines other than Covid shots, even though the paper only investigated the role Covid shots might be playing in the illness it describes, was also seen by some as a concern.
“The term is a problem, it’s a real problem, especially at this political moment,” said Gaffney, who believes the study has multiple shortcomings. “We’re at a moment right now where the U.S. government is undercutting people’s trust in science and vaccinations probably like never before in history. And to coin this novel syndrome without even proving that it’s caused by the vaccine is very worrisome to me.”
A small study on Covid vaccine safety sparks an online tempest
A small study on Covid vaccine safety has sparked an online tempest — and highlighted the conundrum faced by some scientists.
www.statnews.com
A group of researchers last week released a small, preliminary paper theorizing that Covid-19 vaccines may be linked in rare cases to a constellation of lingering symptoms not dissimilar to those associated with long Covid.
They intended for their work to be the subject of academic discussion and to spur further study of what they dubbed “post-vaccination syndrome.” Instead, it has exploded online — and become a parable for the ways in which the internet is being used to weaponize basic vaccine research vital to advancing scientific knowledge about the safe use of these key products.
The study was released last Tuesday on medRxiv, a so-called preprint server where unpublished studies can be shared before they go through peer review, the process by which other scientists kick the tires, effectively, to help journals decide whether or not submitted research deserves to be published. The senior authors of the paper, immunologist Akiko Iwasaki and cardiologist Harlan Krumholz, both serious scientists, were clear in the press release they issued and interviews with STAT that these are preliminary findings that need much more study……
……One researcher, whose university — like a number right now — has told its academics to stay out of media coverage of political events, expressed exasperation at the scientists behind the study, asking: “Why on earth would you do this now if this is preliminary?” Post-vaccination syndrome “is a term that RFK will love,” this individual said.
The fact that the broadness of the term could be read to encompass vaccines other than Covid shots, even though the paper only investigated the role Covid shots might be playing in the illness it describes, was also seen by some as a concern.
“The term is a problem, it’s a real problem, especially at this political moment,” said Gaffney, who believes the study has multiple shortcomings. “We’re at a moment right now where the U.S. government is undercutting people’s trust in science and vaccinations probably like never before in history. And to coin this novel syndrome without even proving that it’s caused by the vaccine is very worrisome to me.”
