In the latest episode of our podcast »Streuspanne«, we take a critical look at the Harm to Benefit Ratio, a new key figure for assessing the Harm to Benefit Ratio of coronavirus vaccines. Based on a publication by Falk Mörl and colleagues, we discuss the reliability of this ratio, which provides particularly unfavorable results for the BioNTech vaccine.
In the latest episode of our podcast »Streuspanne«, it's back to the roots! We take another critical look at the evaluation of the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines – as we did in our very first episode. This time it's all about the so-called Harm to Benefit Ratio, a supposedly new key figure that is supposed to make the Harm Benefit Ratio of vaccines easier to measure. The discussion is based on a publication by a university-based group led by Falk Mörl, Michael Günther and Robert Rockenfeller entitled: »Is the Harm to Benefit Ratio a Key Criterion in Vaccine Approval?«
Five years after the first COVID-19 case, there are repeated attempts to establish new analyses or even key figures for the »risk-benefit assessment« of vaccines. Freelance journalist Martin Rücker drew our attention to one such newly proposed metric and the discussion surrounding its benefits. According to the calculations, the BioNTech vaccine would perform particularly poorly.
But how reliable is this value really? And is the underlying model even suitable for making a valid statement about the harm benefit ratio in the specific application?
Our blogging statisticians Sascha Feth and Jochen Fiedler take a closer look and express doubts about scientific techniques and methods. Together with the two experts, Esther Packullat discusses the following points, among others:
Have you discovered a numerical phenomenon that you would like us to discuss? Or read a statistic in the media that you'd like us to take a closer look at in the »Streuspanne«? Then get in touch with us at presse(at)itwm.fraunhofer.de!
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Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM