It’s unfortunate that the drug companies decided to end their trials early, by giving active covid vaccine to the members of the placebo group after just a few months. It means that there is no long term follow-up of the covid vaccines from randomized trials, and there never will be. This means that we are instead forced to rely entirely on observational data as we … Read more
Tag: Herd immunity
Does it make sense to vaccinate those who have had covid?
One of the strangest things about the last few months on planet Earth has been the relentless drive to vaccinate everyone, regardless of what their individual risk from the virus is, and whether or not they’ve already had the disease. It was well known long before covid came along that people who have had an infection are usually at least as well protected as those … Read more
A history of the Swedish covid response
The Swedish response to the covid pandemic has become one of the most talked about topics of the last six months, and there’s a lot of misinformation floating around. Since that’s the case, and since I keep getting asked what the situation on the ground is really like in Sweden, I figured I’d write up a little history, covering the key events from a Swedish … Read more
Herd immunity without antibodies?
“Only a minority of people in Sweden have antibodies, so they can’t have herd immunity!”
That is the most common argument I’ve been hearing for why Sweden can’t have achieved herd immunity. This is in spite of the fact that the rates of hospitalizations and deaths have dropped continuously since the peak in April, and are now stable at basement levels.
The argument is also … Read more
Covid-19: Does Sweden have herd immunity?
UPDATE 14th November 2020: In light of the recent increase in hospitalizations and deaths during October and November in Sweden, I no longer believe that Sweden reached a state of herd immunity during spring. The text below represents my thinking on the 19th of September, when I wrote the article, and doesn’t represent my current thinking. It is clear that a significant level of population … Read more
Covid-19 interview with Ben, Rob, and Robbo
A few days back I did an interview on the Ben, Rob and Robbo show about covid-19. In the interview we discuss what measures were taken in Sweden to prevent the spread of the disease, whether Sweden has now developed herd immunity, and what the role of T-cells vs antibodies is if that is the case. We also discuss whether the Swedish government intentionally “sacrificed” … Read more