Cochrane: C for Cancel - Part 1

Away with the naughty evidence

Our reader Dissident Daughter alerted us to the disappearance of one of our blogs from the Cochrane Community website.

The piece, dated 29 January 2018, explained why the three long-running Cochrane reviews on influenza vaccines were stabilised.

Two aspects of the disappearance are worth noting.

First, no one alerted any of the authors to the vanishing act. This is (to say the least) discourteous to veteran reviewers who have been at the review since the late 90s.

Second, it follows from the blatant attempts to undermine the work on the same topic (broadly, prevention of ARIs by physical interventions). The attempts and their consequences have been widely covered in Trust the Evidence.

Oh, and third, the blog cannot disappear completely, as here it is on the WayBackMachine

We have no idea why the blog was secretly removed, as it explained the rationale for stabilising the reviews which are still on the Cochrane Library. So, Tom asked (the answer is still awaited).

Given the reaction to the p…