A very important post today from Vinay. I say thanks so much for calling out this guy out in San Diego. Regrettable as it is, I think we are seeing repeatedly now a public exposure of folks who just don't know jack-shit about biostatistics, epidemiology, or clinical evidence analysis. Such persons can be very "dangerous" in a public health information transfer sense because while they may well be "famous in their own fields", they know just enough buzzwords, jingles, and BS to get their feet into their mouths on a regular basis. Keep tightening the screws on all purveyors of nonsense!
After four decades on Wall Street I earned a hard nosed skepticism steeped in data. Imagine my surprise when I turned my retired focus on Healthcare and found those folks were just as self-interested?!?! And the political class...defense contractors...Big Food...ad nauseum. Are there no longer any ethical fiduciaries? As an independent thinker, I feel as vulnerable as a newly incarcerated San Quentin prisoner with no gang affiliation. It seems no one has our back.
All I can say about paxlovid is that everybody I know who has been doubly boosted, then contracted covid and treated with Paxlovid has suffered rebound immediately upon finishing the 5 day course - and that includes the Bidens, Fauci and Wallensky herself. While Anecdotal it is 100% so far. And no surprise given that Paxlovid is virostatic and not virocidal.
I know Eric; I have had to deal with him over many years. He has always been a fraud...not only in this area. But because he is at Scripps and has had his share of R1s (all incestuous as R1s are) people recruit him to write these ridiculous comments. He gets paid a fortune to go speak nonsense to health groups. It all speaks poorly of Scripps for sure.
Both Vinay and Topol write commentary for MedPage. How Vinay can stand to be on the same platform (and sometimes the same page) with Topol boggles my mind.
As an oncologist and principal investigator, our findings were never published on Twitter. The major flaw is posting on a platform that is not intended to generate scientific debate, only opinion, propaganda, fanaticism and conspiracy theories.
That last paragraph was my parting paragraph in my letter of resignation 5 years ago when attempting to leave the field of addiction - like an idiot my ego sent me back for two more years with hope that I could help the system I had worked for would wake up to patient care versus bottom line care...I knew better but had enough hope that things might be better. I was naive - and a colleague in ID said that my field wasn’t the only corrupted one. How naive I was...
Slight change of subject, but FWIW-----I remember seeing a tweet from Dr. Jha from the days before he was WH Covid czar, when he was still at Brown. He was commenting on something-or-other, and someone had been yelling about masks. He said that “masks help-----a little,” and went into some of the reasons that mask mandates are not the be-all and end-all that some folks think. I doubt that he would allow himself to make the same explanation today, as it’s a bit against the party line. I haven’t heard him comment on masks lately, and maybe he isn’t willing to speak about it, but surely his compatriots would be unhappy with him. Personal theory: Rochelle Walensky and pals pooh-pooh the Cochrane review because they are desperately trying to save face.
I worked in public education for quite a few years and remember at a conference one of the speakers talking about Educational Research saying, “When was the last time you heard of an educational study providing results that differed from the point of view of the organization who sponsored the study?” His point was that people “craft” research or use manipulative analysis to back up what they already think (or what benefits them or their organization).
As harmful as that can be in public education, it seems to me to be potentially so much more harmful in public health. I so appreciate the clarity you bring to this issue and for helping to peel back the curtain on so many misleading pieces of information that we, who are the non-medical people, don’t know to believe or not.
Just embarrassing and ludicrous he is used as an expert. I swear he is gunning to be Long COVID Czar. It’s all about the Next Job, either pharma or government administration + keeping that 40+ million NIH funding he brings to Scripps: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/FKsGVQWcgUKcWOjjeYEoGg/projects
This ‘guy’ Eric Topol has been spewing the ‘Covid propaganda narrative’ for going on three years now...he’s been a ‘go to medical expert’ on local San Diego TV and other platforms since early 2020. (I live in San Diego and I’ve heard him...always thought he was a ‘lame expert’).
Wholeheartedly agree with the opinions shared here, but would caution against too much cross posting with sensible medicine. It shouldn't feel like an extension of anyone's personal blog.
Dr. Eric Topol is listed as the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, whose “focus has been on the use of genomic and digital data, along with artificial intelligence.” This is a mash-up of trendy cliche words that add up to not much of anything. Topol is less a researcher than a “technology evangelist” in a lab coat.
Vinay, I accept your call for enduring and deeply rooted skepticism. It may well be that Paxlovid has an important place in our therapeutic arsenal as a treatment for COVID-19. We must be careful not to make ad hominem attacks on our colleagues. I think that you did fine on Topol. Keep up the good work.
A very important post today from Vinay. I say thanks so much for calling out this guy out in San Diego. Regrettable as it is, I think we are seeing repeatedly now a public exposure of folks who just don't know jack-shit about biostatistics, epidemiology, or clinical evidence analysis. Such persons can be very "dangerous" in a public health information transfer sense because while they may well be "famous in their own fields", they know just enough buzzwords, jingles, and BS to get their feet into their mouths on a regular basis. Keep tightening the screws on all purveyors of nonsense!
After four decades on Wall Street I earned a hard nosed skepticism steeped in data. Imagine my surprise when I turned my retired focus on Healthcare and found those folks were just as self-interested?!?! And the political class...defense contractors...Big Food...ad nauseum. Are there no longer any ethical fiduciaries? As an independent thinker, I feel as vulnerable as a newly incarcerated San Quentin prisoner with no gang affiliation. It seems no one has our back.
Even RCT’s can be rigged. Read the book “Turtles All The Down”. Shocking!
All I can say about paxlovid is that everybody I know who has been doubly boosted, then contracted covid and treated with Paxlovid has suffered rebound immediately upon finishing the 5 day course - and that includes the Bidens, Fauci and Wallensky herself. While Anecdotal it is 100% so far. And no surprise given that Paxlovid is virostatic and not virocidal.
I know Eric; I have had to deal with him over many years. He has always been a fraud...not only in this area. But because he is at Scripps and has had his share of R1s (all incestuous as R1s are) people recruit him to write these ridiculous comments. He gets paid a fortune to go speak nonsense to health groups. It all speaks poorly of Scripps for sure.
Both Vinay and Topol write commentary for MedPage. How Vinay can stand to be on the same platform (and sometimes the same page) with Topol boggles my mind.
As an oncologist and principal investigator, our findings were never published on Twitter. The major flaw is posting on a platform that is not intended to generate scientific debate, only opinion, propaganda, fanaticism and conspiracy theories.
That last paragraph was my parting paragraph in my letter of resignation 5 years ago when attempting to leave the field of addiction - like an idiot my ego sent me back for two more years with hope that I could help the system I had worked for would wake up to patient care versus bottom line care...I knew better but had enough hope that things might be better. I was naive - and a colleague in ID said that my field wasn’t the only corrupted one. How naive I was...
Slight change of subject, but FWIW-----I remember seeing a tweet from Dr. Jha from the days before he was WH Covid czar, when he was still at Brown. He was commenting on something-or-other, and someone had been yelling about masks. He said that “masks help-----a little,” and went into some of the reasons that mask mandates are not the be-all and end-all that some folks think. I doubt that he would allow himself to make the same explanation today, as it’s a bit against the party line. I haven’t heard him comment on masks lately, and maybe he isn’t willing to speak about it, but surely his compatriots would be unhappy with him. Personal theory: Rochelle Walensky and pals pooh-pooh the Cochrane review because they are desperately trying to save face.
That’s their standard MO...block anyone that is ‘over the target’. So if one is ‘blocked’ that makes one’s ‘counter opinion’ null and void. 🤔🙄
Dr. Prasad:
I worked in public education for quite a few years and remember at a conference one of the speakers talking about Educational Research saying, “When was the last time you heard of an educational study providing results that differed from the point of view of the organization who sponsored the study?” His point was that people “craft” research or use manipulative analysis to back up what they already think (or what benefits them or their organization).
As harmful as that can be in public education, it seems to me to be potentially so much more harmful in public health. I so appreciate the clarity you bring to this issue and for helping to peel back the curtain on so many misleading pieces of information that we, who are the non-medical people, don’t know to believe or not.
Just embarrassing and ludicrous he is used as an expert. I swear he is gunning to be Long COVID Czar. It’s all about the Next Job, either pharma or government administration + keeping that 40+ million NIH funding he brings to Scripps: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/FKsGVQWcgUKcWOjjeYEoGg/projects
This ‘guy’ Eric Topol has been spewing the ‘Covid propaganda narrative’ for going on three years now...he’s been a ‘go to medical expert’ on local San Diego TV and other platforms since early 2020. (I live in San Diego and I’ve heard him...always thought he was a ‘lame expert’).
Wholeheartedly agree with the opinions shared here, but would caution against too much cross posting with sensible medicine. It shouldn't feel like an extension of anyone's personal blog.
Dr. Eric Topol is listed as the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, whose “focus has been on the use of genomic and digital data, along with artificial intelligence.” This is a mash-up of trendy cliche words that add up to not much of anything. Topol is less a researcher than a “technology evangelist” in a lab coat.
LOL at that fucking tweet. Love you VP. You tell 'em.
Vinay, I accept your call for enduring and deeply rooted skepticism. It may well be that Paxlovid has an important place in our therapeutic arsenal as a treatment for COVID-19. We must be careful not to make ad hominem attacks on our colleagues. I think that you did fine on Topol. Keep up the good work.