Editor's Choice Covid-19: Screening without scrutiny, spending taxpayers’ billions BMJ2020; 371doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4487(Published 19 November 2020)Cite this as: BMJ 2020;371:m4487 Mike Gill and Muir Gray (who was knighted for his work on national screening programmes) insist the Liverpool mass testing pilot must be stopped.1 It is screening by the back door, bypassing appraisal by the UK’s National Screening Committee. The lateral flow test being used is of doubtful value, with a high false negative rate. Although the false positive rate is small it is still a problem in a low prevalence setting. Angela Raffle, another leading expert on screening, argues that Operation Moonshot takes us back to the paternalistic 1960s, ignores data protection and privacy laws, and is potentially in breach of the Declaration of Helsinki.23 Bing Jones and colleagues say we must stop being polite about “test and trace,” with its narrow focus on testing, costing billions of pounds to the taxpayer.4 Instead of listening, inviting scrutiny, or waiting for the results of its Liverpool pilot, England’s Department of Health and Social Care is rushing out mass testing to 67 more areas.5 The government is using the covid-19 pandemic to cut corners in procurement and award contracts without transparency, finds the National Audit Office, which reviewed £18bn of contracts awarded in the first wave.6 Companies are being prioritised solely on the recommendation of officials and politicians. An emergency is no excuse for this bad practice, and the Public Accounts Committee says the NAO’s findings are likely to be the tip of the iceberg. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4487
BMJ2020; 371doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4037(Published 21 October 2020)Cite this as: BMJ 2020;371:m4037 Will covid-19 vaccines save lives? Current trials aren’t designed to tell us. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said, “Ideally, you want an antiviral vaccine to do two things . . . first, reduce the likelihood you will get severely ill and go to the hospital, and two, prevent infection and therefore interrupt disease transmission.”7 Yet the current phase III trials are not actually set up to prove either (table 1). None of the trials currently under way are designed to detect a reduction in any serious outcome such as hospital admissions, use of intensive care, or deaths. Nor are the vaccines being studied to determine whether they can interrupt transmission of the virus. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4037
So should I go from the BMJ to the more recent Daily Mail one that the Government didn't debunk? I'm happy to be better informed, so can you explain which bits are wrong, and why?
No, go to the people who are testing the Vaccine and ask them how many trial patients ended up on ventilators or even in hospital, it's all out there Do you know what a vaccine is and how they gauge it's efficiency? I fear you have been conned in the easiest possible way, someone told you
Yep, over a month ago with no facts re;leased about the vaccines. Still, i would expect a contributor to the BMA to understand how vaccine trials work and how efficacy is gauged. Seems people can post **** anywhere these days , Viva the internet, the future of all knowledge
No offence, but you've never really come across as a medical expert, so I'm assuming you read a critical appraisal of the article. It'd be more constructive and informative if you posted a link, rather than a lot of little heads.
It sure is..... And the sheep can carry on with the vaccination because government and health organisations care
This is the remarkable thing, isn't it? Governments are evil, oppressive, full of avaricious and self-absorbed scumbags out to make quick and easy money at the expense of the masses, but the minute this happens everyone falls into line and swallows every word they say, unquestioningly.