A blog post for the non-expert Our best hope against Covid-19 is an effective vaccine, and efforts in that direction are galloping along like no other time in history. There are so many vaccines being investigated, it’s hard to keep up with the numbers, but at the time of writing there appear to be wellContinue reading “What is interferon and is it effective against Covid-19?”
Author Archives: Pharmablogology
Covid-19 was genetically-engineered
A Covid-19 blog post for the non-expert The story that Covid-19 is a genetically-engineered virus from a Wuhan laboratory has gone viral across the internet (dated pun intended). President Trump implied it, and the Daily Express ran a 10th March headline, “Coronavirus may have been genetically engineered for the efficient spreading in the human population,Continue reading “Covid-19 was genetically-engineered”
Murder and Atoms
Richard Hill and fellow hikers were walking in the Yorkshire Dales, about an hour’s drive from where I live, when they stopped to take a photograph. He stood by a stream near to the Sell Gill Holes caves in Pen-y-ghent but didn’t notice, just behind him, was the face-down body of a half-naked woman. TheyContinue reading “Murder and Atoms”
Education through adversity
A different sort of pandemic blog post, and a rather personal one. There are problems reopening schools, universities are going virtual and post-graduates are struggling to complete. Education is having a hard time, and many students are rightly concerned about the impact this will have on their careers. If I was in this situation, I’dContinue reading “Education through adversity”
A sober look at dexamethasone
A Covid-19 blog post for the non-expert It stared with a 16th June 2020 press release from the University of Oxford “Low-cost dexamethasone reduce death by up to one third in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID-19” – which triggered the equivalent of a media cytokine storm (pun explained shortly). I do not want,Continue reading “A sober look at dexamethasone”
Has the scientific method been suspended?
There’s a scene in the Netflix series Space Force when Chief Scientist Dr. Adrian Mallory asks, “why do you distrust scientists?” To which General Naird angrily replies, “you scientists say don’t eat carbs one day and only eat carbs the next”. One of the scientists in the room interjects, saying, “because of the sample sizesContinue reading “Has the scientific method been suspended?”
Broken Clock Fallacy
I had a terrible bout of flu in November. In fact, my wife said she’d never known me so ill. I had a fever that went up and down, aching joints, a prolonged dry cough and found it hard to breath when laying down at night. I have an oxometer which occasionally dipped below 90%Continue reading “Broken Clock Fallacy”
A scientific tightrope
The two most senior scientific advisors to the UK, Sir Patrick Vallance (Chief Scientific Advisor) and Professor Chris Whitty (Chief Medical Officer) have come into a lot of criticism recently for failing to say what they really believe regarding the Government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak. As Civil Servants they are meant to be impartialContinue reading “A scientific tightrope”
Is Covid-19 over… no it’s not!
In this blog I try to keep to the science I know, and If I don’t have enough expertise, I reach out to those who do. I declare therefore, I am wandering into fresh territory in this post and, at least in part, it’s my opinion – although I believe backed up with the facts.Continue reading “Is Covid-19 over… no it’s not!”
Covid-19 vaccine pessimism
Another blog on Covid-19 for the non-expert I’ve seen claims on social media and in the press saying a vaccine for Covid-19 may never arrive. The Telegraph, and The Guardian are two examples. The three most commonly quoted reasons I’ve seen for vaccine pessimism are: (1) vaccines take many years to make, the mumps vaccineContinue reading “Covid-19 vaccine pessimism”
Graham Lappin 