More or Less: Behind the Stats
Vaccine claims, Alzheimer's treatment and Tim's Parkrun times
Oct 4, 2023
Controversial claims by YouTuber John Campbell regarding excess deaths and the Covid vaccine are debunked. The effectiveness of a new Alzheimer's treatment, Dannanamab, is examined, including its ability to slow down the progression of the disease and remove amyloid plaques from the brain. Beth Mallory discusses the impact of French words in the English language and the challenge of constructing a sentence using only French-derived words.
28:25
Episode guests
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Claims about excess deaths in vaccinated individuals were based on flawed data and incorrect population estimates, as the actual data from the Office for National Statistics showed higher mortality rates in the unvaccinated population.
- The new drug for Alzheimer's, Denanamab, has shown promise in reducing amyloid plaques but the trial results indicate subtle effects and the average difference in cognitive decline between the drug and placebo groups fell below the minimum clinically important difference needed to notice a significant improvement.
Deep dives
The Controversial Claims About COVID Vaccines
A YouTube video by Dr. John Campbell suggested that there have been more excess deaths in vaccinated individuals compared to the unvaccinated. However, a peer review of the analysis found that the claims were based on flawed data and incorrect population estimates. The experts agreed that the actual data from the Office for National Statistics showed higher mortality rates in the unvaccinated population. The claims made in the video were deemed misleading and lacking validity.
