Kevin, as you know, I am not a medical doctor and don't pretend to be one. But I have long been annoyed by some of your over-the-top comments related to COVID. (I know you like making over-the-top comments about all subjects.)
For more than 12 years now I have been collaborating with a number of doctors specializing in respiratory and critical care medicine, working at several major academic medical centers around the country. A few of them are division chiefs and most, including those who are division chiefs, still spend part of their time rounding in intensive care units. So, they have been at the forefront of treating some of the most severe COVID cases. I have seen the stress these doctors have been under, especially in the earlier months of the pandemic, as they were overwhelmed with patients and stretched thin. I have heard how cut up they have been about patients dying. Also, earlier this year I lost a wonderful colleague to COVID -- a colleague I had collaborated closely with for more than 20 years, who was both a medical doctor and a cardiovascular disease epidemiologist.
The studies I work on have been affected very substantially, in part because the participants are now elderly (in one they are now all aged 80+, though they were under 65 when initially enrolled) and/or have a chronic condition (COPD) putting them at higher risk of bad consequences of COVID infection. For the people I work with and those in our studies, the effects of the pandemic have been very serious. I am not involved in any studies of younger adults or children and don't have any knowledge or even an informed opinion on the risks and benefits of the vaccines in those age groups.
I haven't met Anthony Fauci or worked on studies funded by his institute at the NIH. But I have met a few directors of other NIH institutes, including Larry Taback, who is currently acting director of the overall NIH. The ones I have met have all been committed scientists for whom I have a great deal of respect. Fauci certainly made some mistakes with regard to COVID, but part of that is to be expected in a rapidly developing and changing situation. I don't regard him as being particularly evil.
Although it pains me to admit it, the Trump government deserved some credit for helping to facilitate the rapid development of vaccines. I am not a fan of Big Pharma and will refrain from commenting about their involvement.
There have been a large number of scientific publications on various things related to COVID, including some very good work and some that is horrible. As a statistical peer reviewer for a few major medical journals (none directly related to infectious diseases), I have seen some rather poor work submitted for publication. I am complicit in COVID-related work being undertaken by a collaboration among several cohorts, mostly funded by NHLBI: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35279711/
Greetings, I enjoy much of what you read and agree with some of it. As a doctor, I can tell you that you continue to underestimate the direct suffering that COVID infections caused, especially in the first couple waves. Because of this, you fail to see (or acknowledge) that for many people, the risk/benefit profile of the early vaccines was clearly favorable. That is a side point, however. My main concern is your decision to post the Outside article with suspected marathon-related rhabdomyolysis above vaccine-related cases, such proximity implying association when there is none. Given the serious and tragic nature of his case, I think it's in very poor taste. There is much more mystery in medicine (and in life) than many people realize, but in this case, to the extent there will be an explanation, it is probably the one given by the doctors in the article.
Kevin, as you know, I am not a medical doctor and don't pretend to be one. But I have long been annoyed by some of your over-the-top comments related to COVID. (I know you like making over-the-top comments about all subjects.)
For more than 12 years now I have been collaborating with a number of doctors specializing in respiratory and critical care medicine, working at several major academic medical centers around the country. A few of them are division chiefs and most, including those who are division chiefs, still spend part of their time rounding in intensive care units. So, they have been at the forefront of treating some of the most severe COVID cases. I have seen the stress these doctors have been under, especially in the earlier months of the pandemic, as they were overwhelmed with patients and stretched thin. I have heard how cut up they have been about patients dying. Also, earlier this year I lost a wonderful colleague to COVID -- a colleague I had collaborated closely with for more than 20 years, who was both a medical doctor and a cardiovascular disease epidemiologist.
The studies I work on have been affected very substantially, in part because the participants are now elderly (in one they are now all aged 80+, though they were under 65 when initially enrolled) and/or have a chronic condition (COPD) putting them at higher risk of bad consequences of COVID infection. For the people I work with and those in our studies, the effects of the pandemic have been very serious. I am not involved in any studies of younger adults or children and don't have any knowledge or even an informed opinion on the risks and benefits of the vaccines in those age groups.
I haven't met Anthony Fauci or worked on studies funded by his institute at the NIH. But I have met a few directors of other NIH institutes, including Larry Taback, who is currently acting director of the overall NIH. The ones I have met have all been committed scientists for whom I have a great deal of respect. Fauci certainly made some mistakes with regard to COVID, but part of that is to be expected in a rapidly developing and changing situation. I don't regard him as being particularly evil.
Although it pains me to admit it, the Trump government deserved some credit for helping to facilitate the rapid development of vaccines. I am not a fan of Big Pharma and will refrain from commenting about their involvement.
There have been a large number of scientific publications on various things related to COVID, including some very good work and some that is horrible. As a statistical peer reviewer for a few major medical journals (none directly related to infectious diseases), I have seen some rather poor work submitted for publication. I am complicit in COVID-related work being undertaken by a collaboration among several cohorts, mostly funded by NHLBI: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35279711/
Greetings, I enjoy much of what you read and agree with some of it. As a doctor, I can tell you that you continue to underestimate the direct suffering that COVID infections caused, especially in the first couple waves. Because of this, you fail to see (or acknowledge) that for many people, the risk/benefit profile of the early vaccines was clearly favorable. That is a side point, however. My main concern is your decision to post the Outside article with suspected marathon-related rhabdomyolysis above vaccine-related cases, such proximity implying association when there is none. Given the serious and tragic nature of his case, I think it's in very poor taste. There is much more mystery in medicine (and in life) than many people realize, but in this case, to the extent there will be an explanation, it is probably the one given by the doctors in the article.