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New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
(02/27/03) P. C7; Pollack, Andrew
University of Washington biostatistics
professor Steven G. Self asserts that VaxGen overstated the effectiveness of its
AIDS vaccine for African-Americans, Asians, and other non-Hispanic minorities.
VaxGen President Donald P. Francis counters by asserting that even with proper
adjustments, the data would show statistically significant effectiveness of the
product for minorities. Self believes the adjustments would make the confidence
interval just slightly above zero, and he believes data analyzed enough can
always find some effectiveness for subgroups of people. Francis says VaxGen
will search for reasons why the AIDS vaccine is more effective in some groups
but not others.
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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"