The tone of this article is far more shrill than the Atlantic article. Dr. Thomas Jefferson is demanding evidence for assertions - that's "methodolotry"? He's betraying the original ideas of evidence-based medicine by demanding that medicine be based on evidence? For shame.
In this case his evidence base isn't even relevant, because we aren't dealing with seasonal flu but pandemic flu.
Ah, but the epidemiology to back this statement has mostly come from very dubious and biased statistics - specifically, the way that, in Mexico where epidemic originated, the only people they found with the disease were those on the edge of death because of the tendency there to only go to the doctor when you are on the edge of death. Despite the pandemic declaration, we haven't seen death rates above the normal rates of flu season yet (though a slightly different group is dying..). We might see high death rates but ... perhaps ... we should look at evidence before making grand declarations that this like nothing seen before.
Note, the original article is a not screaming endorsement of Jefferson's view, just a summary of debate:
The most vocal—and undoubtedly most vexing—critic of the gospel of flu vaccine is the Cochrane Collaboration’s Jefferson, who’s also an epidemiologist trained at the famed London School of Tropical Hygiene, and who, in Lisa Jackson’s view, makes other skeptics seem “moderate by comparison.” Among his fellow flu researchers, Jefferson’s outspokenness has made him something of a pariah.
I'm surprised how controversial it is to demand placebo trials. The whole thing about ethics is ridiculous as the participants could be told about the uncertainties, about the majority and the minority views.
It shouldn't be hard to find enough educated people to volunteer in the interest of the billions potentially affected by the flu.
Well, let's keep things in perspective. We're talking about the ethics of asking some 1000 volunteers _not_ to get a flu jab in one winter. ([edit] not about nazi death camps as the article you posted does)
And I think it is ridiculously un-ethical to vaccinate hundereds of millions of people with a vaccine that has never been tested properly (and I mean the seasonal flu, not the exceptional swine flu situation). These people go out and take risks that may cost them their lives because they have a false sense of safety.
Did you read the article? The ethical issue is the fact that you are _not_ preventing a vaccine preventable disease.
What information do you have that the flu vaccine is not tested properly?
edit to your edit: You clearly didn't read the post I linked to above if you think it's about nazi death camps above the ethical considerations of randomized, placebo controlled, double blinded studies.
Look, I don't doubt that there are difficult ethical situations. But the flu situation is not one of them. The danger of not getting a flu jab just isn't severe enough to throw Dr. Mengele into the debate.
And to answer your question, I gather that seasonal flu vaccines have never been tested using a controlled, randomized, double-blind study. If that is not the case, then what are we talking about?
And I fail to see how it can be an ethical problem not to use a vaccine of which we don't know whether it prevents anything or not.
Seat belts have been proven as an effective defense against injury and death in automobile accidents.
It would be unethical to perform a study in which you ask humans to undergo a car accident without a seatbelt.
Anyway, that's how I understand it. I guess you could read up on the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, Belemont Report, Declaration of Helsinki and Nuremburg Code to learn more.
In this case his evidence base isn't even relevant, because we aren't dealing with seasonal flu but pandemic flu.
Ah, but the epidemiology to back this statement has mostly come from very dubious and biased statistics - specifically, the way that, in Mexico where epidemic originated, the only people they found with the disease were those on the edge of death because of the tendency there to only go to the doctor when you are on the edge of death. Despite the pandemic declaration, we haven't seen death rates above the normal rates of flu season yet (though a slightly different group is dying..). We might see high death rates but ... perhaps ... we should look at evidence before making grand declarations that this like nothing seen before.
Note, the original article is a not screaming endorsement of Jefferson's view, just a summary of debate:
The most vocal—and undoubtedly most vexing—critic of the gospel of flu vaccine is the Cochrane Collaboration’s Jefferson, who’s also an epidemiologist trained at the famed London School of Tropical Hygiene, and who, in Lisa Jackson’s view, makes other skeptics seem “moderate by comparison.” Among his fellow flu researchers, Jefferson’s outspokenness has made him something of a pariah.