The MHRA Papers - Part 12
Logic
SUMMARY: Logic should be part of the curriculum for anyone in a responsible position. Meeting minutes (secret or not) should be checked and approved before the next meeting.
We continue reviewing the minutes of the 15 February 2021 meeting of the MHRA’s Commission On Human Medicines (CHM) COVID-19 Vaccines Benefit Risk Expert Working Group.
The meeting topics were an update on Impact Surveillance, an update on SIREN, Cohort analysis within the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Database, the SARI-Watch surveillance system, a Safety update on the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and a Review of fatal reports for the Oxford AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.
We will not detail the content as we found two incompatible statements in the minutes that left us perplexed:
“It was noted that there was significant under reporting of fatalities to the Yellow Card Scheme and that there can be difficulty in interpreting the data where reports are sparse”.
AND
“The EWG agreed with the conclusion that there was not a signal indicating an increased risk of death following vaccination”.
(our emphasis)
This post was written by two old geezers who remember when logic was essential, perhaps less so if the minutes are secret.
Yes Vivian either explanation is possible, but the fact remains that this nonsense is on public record. Either old geezer would have insisted on seeing any record of the meeting and would not have put their names to something like this which would destroy our reputation for real (not what the New York Times writes, the real stuff).
Best, Tom.
Good Lord! Those two contradictory sentences taken from the minutes are beyond belief - obviously nobody in that august forum read the minutes. Alternatively, it might well be the case that anyone who did read and pointed this contradiction out was told not to be so pernickety because 'time was short' and it wasn't important anyway in the grander scheme of global vaccination things.
My inner Victor Meldrum is suddenly coming to the fore ...