This article is to be read in tandem with my article about an example of clever writing about science.

The author of the sloppy writing is Shin Yie Jong and his article is entitled, “No Changes in All-Cause Mortality in Pfizer’s Clinical Trial for mRNA Vaccine: Why?”. Let’s have a look at Jong’s article.

First, let’s look at what Jong does right. Jong shows the raw data and doesn’t hide it. Jong looks at the data’s significance, which is very good. Jong runs it through the p-value calculator, which shows a p-value of 0.5018, which means that the data may be the result of random chance. Jong notes that the p-value result may also indicate that the trial was underpowered. All very good stuff. However…

Jong fails to point out that the data trends towards harm and that there maybe ought to be a followup trial. Jong fails to point…