A slightly different version of this article was published in The Ottawa Citizen.
A slightly different version of this article was published in The Ottawa Citizen.
The article below has been published in the Canadian Medical Education Journal (CMEJ). But it’s not written in very technical language, so I thought I’d amplify its reach by reproducing it here, as well. I think it’s pretty important and timely, given the amount of noise in public discourse about the sacrosanct nature of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and how much that noise impacts public perception of public health policies.
If you want to cite his article, though, please use the CMEJ citation:
Deonandan R. Resist the Randomized Controlled Trials fetish: different questions require different pyramids of evidence. Can. Med. Ed. J [Internet]. 2025 Feb. 24 [cited 2025 Feb. 28];16(1):126-7.
On Aug 1, 2020, I wrote a Facebook post that went a little bit viral. Remember, this was the 5th or 6th month of the acknowledged COVID pandemic, and still four months away from an authorized vaccine, and almost a year away from widespread vaccination.
I wanted to revisit this post, as it listed 33 thoughts about the pandemic, which I had just expressed as the guest speaker on a popular video podcast called, “Dave’s Digital Cafe.”
I’m curious about whether readers think any of this is relevant today. Back then, it’s clear I was concerned about IP issues constraining vaccine development, and the zoonotic extent of the virus. Neither of those has emerged as something we think about a lot today.
On the other hand, I think my observations about political tribalism, the failure of communication, and the importance of infrastructure investment are even more poignant now than they were at the start of the pandemic.
In any case, let me know in the comments what you think.
Here are the 33 thoughts, reposted verbatim from four years ago: (more…)
A while back, Dr Mary Fernando wrote an article about Measles for the Medical Post, which has since been reproduced at Canada Healthwatch. For the article, she asked me to submit some of the common Measles questions that people send me, which I did, and which she then incorporated into her splendid article.
I thought it would be useful to share with you the complete document that I sent her, just for archival purposes. So here goes: questions about Measles that people send me, and the answers that I give… (more…)
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