Tag: covid-19

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The overly sensitive professor

johnrobertson834

stewartb Ths is from an earlier Covid Inquiry public hearing on Module 2 in London (16 October 2023). The Inquiry’s lawyer puts this to Professor Woolhouse: ‘Then if we can go to a passage towards the end of YOUR STATEMENT, please, you return to this theme …..: “… SAGE and its subgroups PUT TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON CONSENSUS AND TOO LITTLE ON MINORITY VIEWS. The most likely outcome — intended or otherwise — of only
 expressing a single view is that it presents policy makers with an overly limited set of options and so will channel policy decisions along a … Continue reading The overly sensitive professor

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Covid Inquiry – Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands contrary to Prof Woolhouse’s wrong views

johnrobertson834

In the Herald today: The Scottish Government ignored its own scientific advice not to close schools during the second Covid wave of 2021, the UK inquiry into the pandemic has heard.   Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said that the decision to shut classrooms across Scotland was “not necessary” and did not contribute to halting the spread of the virus.   Woolhouse, as far as I can see, was only one of the 20 advisors on the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group. I’m not aware of this group advising against school closures. Prof Sridhar was … Continue reading Covid Inquiry – Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands contrary to Prof Woolhouse’s wrong views

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More on MMR immunisation in Scotland – latest research

johnrobertson834

By stewartb Let me share some other positive insights on MMR immunisation, this time from a recent peer reviewed research paper: Source: McQuaid F, Mulholland R, Sangpang Rai Y, Agrawal U, Bedford H, Cameron JC, et al. (2022) Uptake of infant and preschool immunisations in Scotland and England during the COVID-19 pandemic: An observational study of routinely collected data. PLoS Med 19(2): e1003916. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003916 ‘We found that early uptake of infant and preschool immunisations (within 4 weeks of a child becoming eligible) ROSE SIGNIFICANTLY FOR THE DURATION OF THE FIRST LOCKDOWN PERIOD IN SCOTLAND, RESULTING IN THOUSANDS MORE CHILDREN RECEIVING THEIR … Continue reading More on MMR immunisation in Scotland – latest research

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The Campaign to blame the SNP for Covid deaths contrary to the facts is underway

johnrobertson834

When the otherwise excellent Open Democracy seems to have swallowed the myth, much loved by Anas Sarwar, that Covid 19 deaths in care homes were the result of hospital discharges of untested patients into them, you know the campaign to turn around the story of Scotland’s better pandemic performance, is well on the way. Yesterday, they had: Care home deaths soared as Holyrood took two months to introduce testing for outgoing hospital patients, inquiry hears. Donald Macaskill, the chief executive of Scottish Care, which represents the country’s independent social care sector, said he warned the then-secretary for health and sport, … Continue reading The Campaign to blame the SNP for Covid deaths contrary to the facts is underway

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Cancer checks, A&E waiting times, hospital Covid infections and drug deaths – Why England’s health statistics are even worse than we were told

johnrobertson834

Thanks again to Dottie’s Phone for alerting me to this. All sources below. Yesterday in the Guardian: NHS figures that show more people than ever are being checked for cancer have been criticised as “misleading” by experts. Official data published on Monday reported that almost 3 million people in England were tested for cancer in 2022, a 133% increase in the decade since 2013. The latest monthly figures also show that October 2023 was the highest month on record for cancer checks, with 269,492 urgent referrals. But leading cancer experts dismissed the figures as “misleading” and “smoke and mirrors”, noting that the NHS was … Continue reading Cancer checks, A&E waiting times, hospital Covid infections and drug deaths – Why England’s health statistics are even worse than we were told

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Pisa – 33% of Scotland’s schools took part but only 4.7% of England’s schools were confident enough to do so – Scotland did far better

johnrobertson834

I’m grateful to AR and Haggis Hunter https://twitter.com/thistlefarmer5 for alerting me to this. The England PISA sample consisted of 201 eligible schools having at least one pupil in this age range. In England, 3,852 pupils from original sample schools and 911 pupils from replacement schools participated. Pupils in participating schools that did not participate are not replaced. 159 agreed to participate, along with a further 32 replacement schools, but 16 schools withdrew before data collection. Data was therefore collected from 143 schools in the original sample and 32 replacement schools. Of this total, nine original sample schools and one replacement … Continue reading Pisa – 33% of Scotland’s schools took part but only 4.7% of England’s schools were confident enough to do so – Scotland did far better