The COVID Studies We Actually Need
COVID Vaccine Hesitancy and Risk of a Traffic Crash was published by the American Journal of Medicine but authored by a trio in Canada. Donald A. Redelmeier, MD FRCPC MSHSR, FACP, works in “evaluative clinical sciences” at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto. Jonathan Wang, MMASc, is with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and the department of medicine at the University of Toronto. Deva Thiruchelvam, MSc, is also with the ICES and the Sunnybrook Institute in Toronto.
The trio tested whether COVID vaccination was associated with the risks of a traffic crash, and they found that to be so, though “belief in freedom” and “distrust of government” were additional possibilities. This writer’s review of the study, see here, here, and here, drew responses of interest.
As one writer noticed, the authors seem to have used a straight number of drivers without accounting for the average miles each drove. It could be argued that a driver who averages 50 miles per day, should count about the same as ten drivers who average only five miles a day. There would also need to be adjustments for weather, age, region, and even time of day. If these were unaccounted for, the study would be “incredibly flawed.”
Another commenter likened the study to the age-old question, “do you walk to school or take your lunch?” So the entire project was “hilarious” and not to be taken seriously.
Another commenter thought the authors were politically motivated because there was “no other possible explanation to even do this research in the first place.” Indeed, it’s hard to find anybody panting for a study relating vaccine hesitancy to traffic crashes.
Yet another writer suggested comparing mortality data on vaccinated adults versus non-vaccinated adults in 2022, 2023, and 2024. That certainly makes sense, and other factors could also be compared.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the COVID vaccines have brought reports of myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, inflammation of the heart’s outer lining. Another possibility is a comparison of sterility in the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Remember, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sought court approval to delay the release of the data used to approve the Pfizer vaccine until 2096, a full 75 years, in effect, a proxy for “never.” People have the right to wonder what they are hiding.
These possibilities all make more sense than a study linking vaccine hesitancy to traffic crashes. That one smacks of white coat supremacy, not sound medical science and common sense.
