I was just about to write a blog about how insane this claim is. If anything, the numbers show that the AstraZeneca vaccine lowers the risk of blood clots but the great Weekend Editor beat me to it. So, even if you have to skip the great statistical stuff in his blog, just read his great post, please!
There’s another piece up today about AstraZeneca’s latest pratfall with the Data Safety Monitoring Board of the NIH.
Almost a textbook case of how to get into trouble with the FDA: issue an optimistic press release based on partial data when the FDA has the full data, quote a higher efficacy than the FDA gets in the full data, ignore DSMB instructions on stricter calling of COVID-19 positives, and do all of that without prior notification so it takes the FDA by surprise.
The vaccine looks pretty good; the management’s communication… not so much.