OHO! At last I find out where all the conspiracy buzz is coming from, re "The vaccines don't do nothin'! It's right here in this table of stats. Read it and weep!"
Well I did read it. And you should be the one weeping for shame that you've repeatedly propagated a number of lies on FR with this one post you keep repeating, that covers the categories of: "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics".
First lie is obvious: Peer Reviewed Research. Merely click on the Lancet link you gave me, and look carefully near the upper left corner: It says "COMMENT". It is commentary. Think: Opinion Page of a newspaper. This is not, and has never been "peer-reviewed research".
-No, that doesn't speak to the truth of the words in the commentary.
-But it *does* speak volumes about the integrity and believability of the people who keep hyping this.
-If they happily continue to pass on this obvious lie, what else about the article are they lying about? Hmmmm? Let's read more of the article and find out ...
CATEGORY #3: "... and Statistics":
The three authors focus on a stat called "Absolute Risk Reduction" (ARR) - which is close to 1%.
They ignore the really relevant stat known as "Relative Risk Reduction (RRR) - which is close to 90%.
Here is why the selection of which stat to use is important. I'll create a fictitious example using large round #s to make the math easier:
BOTTOM LINE: THE BIG LIE TOLD BY PEOPLE WHO QUOTE THIS LANCET ARTICLE:
The people quoting it completely misunderstand even the most basic tenets of statistics (or else they're lying and know it), by drawing a conclusion that is totally bogus (and was NEVER claimed by the authors of the Commentary in Lancet): They point to the 1% *Absolute* reduction rate, and spout: "The vaccine is useless as it only works 1% of the time". That's an out and out lie, because the reality is that it REALLY DOES work 90% of the time to prevent Covid deaths or hospitalizations or whatever is being measured by some study.
But they are starting with the counter-point of: "So few are going to die of it whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, that an average person taking this 90% effective vaccine is still only going to reduce their odds of dying from Covid by a tiny amount" - which is certainly true - but then changing it to the big lie of: "The vaccine is useless; it only works 1% of the time!"
So please stop spreading this lie of "Vaccines are only 1% effective". They are around 90% effective, and you all know it.
ADDENDUM:
The spokesperson for the 3 Lancet Comment-ers has expressed regret that social media based conspiracists have taken their "1% ARR Elephant in the Room" commentary and lied about it.
He freely admits that the vaccines are around 90% effective. But he is making another point entirely with his "ARR=1%" fact, namely: "Why are we spending so much on something that will save only 1% of people's lives?"
If you wonder why he's doing this, take a quick look at his resume. The answer to the question is a big Duh! This guy works in a Tropical Medicine research facility.
For "Tropical" read: "fighting disease in the other half of the world".
Year after year, people like this beg on their knees for a few table scraps from governments and charitable foundations who dole out disease research $$.
Year after year they see billions go for research into breast cancer, MS, Alzheimers, Lupus, heart disease, and a host of other diseases that are the main killers north of the Tropics. Some of these diseases - like MS - are practically UNHEARD OF in the tropics.
So it must have been a bitter pill to swallow in 2020-2021 to see the entire industrialized world mobilize to pour billions into preventing a new disease that is of high concern in the wealthy countries, where it only saves 1% of people, and compare that to the paltry amounts the tropical disease researchers are getting, where they would save many more lives, though of course they're the people who live on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. (I wonder if maybe their funding even went DOWN in some cases as money was diverted to Covid research.)
So, this cry for help of: "Hey, look how few lives you're saving up there with this vax; don't forget about the rest of the world!" has been latched onto and spun into the lie of "The vax doesn't work!" by the clickbait artists ("Pimp my website! Pimp my blog! Pimp my podcast! Pimp my vblog!...") who make Big Bucks off of conspiracy bingers.