How many injections prevent one covid death?

Risk is notoriously difficult to communicate effectively. It is especially hard when referring to an emotive subject like the risk of dying as the emotional response prevents rational interpretation of complex numbers. To simplify understanding of the benefits of interventions the number of people who need to be treated to prevent a death can be measured, the number needed to treat (or “NNT”). The same

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State-sponsored behavioural science

The ubiquitous deployment of behavioural-science techniques – ‘nudges’ – to increase compliance with both covid-19 restrictions and the vaccine rollout has raised major ethical concerns. Particularly alarming has been the state’s strategic use of fear (or ‘affect’ in the language of behavioural science), shaming (‘ego’) and peer pressure (‘norms’).

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