Category: Health Emergency

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Peter Doshi and vaccines data: “trust but verify

Peter Doshi’s (denied) request for access to the raw data of the vaccine trial published in the British Medical Journal is a starting point to analyse on the delicate relationship between science and the media by Andrea Monti  – Originally published in Italian by Scienza in rete

Those who practise the scientific method have the stubborn habit (incomprehensible to most) of drawing conclusions from the analysis of data according to the criteria of a research hypothesis and applying a method that allows the inter-subjective verifiability of the results.

This mental attitude is diametrically opposed to those who base their opinions and – worse – decisions on ‘trust’ (often turned into ‘faith’) and therefore on the authority of various eminences. I do not criticise this attitude in the religious sphere, but in the secular one, that of science, yes. If a dogma exists in the practice of science, it is that of the methodical doubt, together with that of the absence of certainty. An experimentally verified theory is valid as long as it is valid. It happened to give an example of which expertise overflows outside the laboratories, with Newton’s gravitation and quantum mechanics. Continue reading “Peter Doshi and vaccines data: “trust but verify”

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Pfizer vaccine. Does adverse reaction information back up conspiracy theorists?

Spreading news about Pfizer vaccines’ allergic reactions is dangerous. A change in a communication strategy is urgent.

By Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Infosec.News

After the British patient, other people (two nurses from a hospital in Alaska) suffered an extreme allergic reaction within ten minutes after the administration of the vaccine.

The news, in itself, is not relevant because any vaccine can have side effects and, as written in another article, it is simply wrong to think that the administration of a vaccine, as of any drug, cannot have consequences ranging from annoying to lethal. Concerning the specific case of the Pfizer vaccine, then, not being an expert, it is wise to refrain from any technical consideration, and wait to read some scientific study that explores the topic. Continue reading “Pfizer vaccine. Does adverse reaction information back up conspiracy theorists?”

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Sweden and Japan are as far away as China is near

Italian Health Minister Speranza hopes that the sense of responsibility would prevail so to avoid a new quarantine by Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Infosec.News

The Minister’s statement reveals that the government has already decided to enforce a new global lockdown (or that it is every day more likely.)
Putting aside the past political controversies, right now the options are unavoidable: either we enforce self-restraint, or the government will do it on our behalf.
We have already experienced what a quarantine looks like, and we can imagine what might happens when we read news such as that of the assault in Livorno by a Carabinieri patrol carried out not by dangerous criminals, but by citizens out of control. Continue reading “Sweden and Japan are as far away as China is near”

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China to vaccine the Army to avoid the Roman Empire’s fate

by Andrea Monti – adjunct professor of law and order at the University of Chieti-Pescara – Originally published in Italian by Formiche.net

A piece of recent news is that China has decided to test Ad5-nCoV, a possible vaccine for the Coronavirus, on its armed forces. According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, the choice would depend on the fact that the military “offers a more compact medical control group than the public”.

Although the use on civilians and not only by Chinese descent could be possible (the experimentation was also authorized in Canada), it is useful to think about the meaning of the choice to develop and test the vaccine in the military. Continue reading “China to vaccine the Army to avoid the Roman Empire’s fate”