The Gold Standard for Measuring the Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines

Today’s broadcast addresses a common mistake made by everyone from Anthony Fauci to anti-vaxxers about the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.

Sources:

Fauci’s 2/17/21 comments about vaccines in Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXEfROd-R2A

Current Covid-19 cases in Israel: https://outbreak.info/epidemiology?location=ISR&log=false&variable=confirmed_rolling&xVariable=date&fixedY=false&percapita=false

“The root of most instances of statistical malpractice is the … introduction of causal assumptions into analysis without justifying them on scientific grounds”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5401528/pdf/jrcollphyslond90376-0016.pdf

The fact that “association does not prove causation” is taught in high school math: http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/Math_Standards.pdf#page=81

“In clinical research, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the best way to study the safety and efficacy of new treatments”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3196997/

Randomized controlled trials are “the gold standard for effectiveness research”: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1471-0528.15199

The latest randomized controlled trial of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine: https://www.fda.gov/media/151733/download