3 ms·

Texas sues Pfizer with Covid anti-vax argument that is pure stupid

• isaacfrond 3y ago
  tl;dr The lawsuit argues that Pfizer should have presented its vaccine's effectiveness in terms of absolute risk reduction rather than relative risk reduction. The difference between the two calculations is quite simple: Absolute risk reduction is a matter of subtraction—the percentage point drop in risk of a disease between an untreated and treated group. So, for example, if a group of untreated people have a 60 percent risk of developing a disease, but, when treated, the risk drops to 10 percent, the absolute risk reduction is 50 percent (60 – 10 = 50). Relative risk reduction involves division—the percent change difference between the two groups' risks. So, as in the previous example, if a treatment lowers disease risk from 60 percent to 10 percent, the relative risk reduction is 83 percent (50 percent drop / 60 percent initial risk = ~0.83). Both numbers can be helpful when weighing the risks and benefits of treatments, but absolute risk reduction is particularly key when there's a low risk of a disease. This can be easily understood by simply moving the decimal in the above example. If a treatment lowers a person's disease risk from 6 percent to 1 percent, the relative risk reduction is still 83 percent—an impressive number that might argue for treatment—but the absolute risk reduction is a paltry 5 percent—which could easily be negated by any potential side effects or high costs.