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Was the FDA too slow or too fast in deciding on full approval for the first Covid vaccine? My thoughts at The Atlantic: The FDA Really Did Have to Take This Long.
Meanwhile, Peter Doshi continued his criticisms of Covid vaccines at BMJ Blogs, again arguing that no Covid vaccine should be fully approved until well into 2022 at the earliest. This time, he added another argument, and I tackled it at Absolutely Maybe: This "Waning Immunity" Argument Against the FDA's Covid Vaccine Approval is a Scientific Quagmire.
Also at Absolutely Maybe, a trio of posts on outstanding breakthroughs by 16 women in the first century of vaccine science – from discovering where in the body antibodies are made, identifying and naming the natural killer cells, and including a Nobel-prize-winning achievement: 1900-1930s (Part 1), 1940s-1960s (Part 2), and 1970s-1990s (Part 3).
In which I push back at the arguments people are making for not vaccinating adolescents and children against Covid-19: A Worrying Drift Towards Exceptionalism in the Covid Vax For Kids Debate.
A study too unusual and important for just a tweet. At Absolutely Maybe, A Communication Research Unicorn! Decent Evidence You Can Change People's Minds & Actions Via Social Media.
Some awesome vaccine news this month – but from the media coverage, I don't think you'd know how important it was. Over at The Atlantic: The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better.
And my June Covid vax roundup post at Absolutely Maybe was a bit late because big news just kept rolling in: A Big Hit, A Bit Miss, & Mixed Vaccine Schedules – The 18-Month Mark.
Another monster Covid vaccine update, with sections on major turning points you might have missed, "real world evidence", immunosuppressed people, and trials in children and teenagers. At Absolutely Maybe – New Vaccine Hopes, Adverse Reactions, & a Developer Clashing with Regulators: A Month of Highs and Lows.
My April talk at the Virtually Cochrane 2021 meeting is now a blog post – Systematic Evidence and the Covid-19 Stress Test: Pass or Fail? With my thanks to the organizers and participants, who gave me a lot to think about!
And another look at a systematic review based controversy: Peering Through the Smoke at a Duel Over Covid's Infection Fatality Rate.
First up, something I've been wanting to get around to for a long time – spurred on now by a particularly egregious example of handling criticism badly. At Absolutely Maybe, A Cartoon Guide to Criticism: Scientist Edition.
And soon after, I had to decide how to put this into practice, when I read a critique by Steven Salzberg, of my most recent post in The Atlantic. In this case, my response is a rebuttal.
