Tijl De Bie

Registration is free but mandatory (for logistical reasons) on one of the following websites:
event.ugent.be/registration...
www.meetup.com/ugentdss/eve...

How to find #humanity in an #AI-flooded world?

That's the question we'll discuss in the #EcceMachina symposium, on Wed 14 May 14:00-18:00 at #UGent (Auditorium Vandenhove).

Open & free to all, but registration is mandatory. (Registration links in next message:)

Tijdens #Vivaldi wilden @kdepoortermp.bsky.social en #FriedaGijbels de Covid-emails van #FVDB inkijken, een degelijke evaluatie, de Commissie voor Toegang tot Bestuursdocumenten #CTB beslissingsmacht geven,...

Nu @de-nva.bsky.social in de regering zit kan dit niet lang op zich laten wachten, toch?

Any suggestions on what I should do next?
Any academic journals that would consider publishing this story (with more details)?
Any traditional media?

Suggestions welcome!

So far I have not publicly communicated much about my interactions with the parties involved, hoping they would simply set the record straight as any self-respecting scientist would. Unfortunately, that hope appears to be increasingly unjustified.

This is particularly concerning as there's healthcare policy implications of the error, and as the authors are from the very institutes that provide direct policy advice to our governments.

To be clear: I'm not contesting any assumptions here, I'm pointing out an undisputable error. This is not about a scientific disagreement or a different perspective, but about a lack of basic scientific integrity, the obstinate unwillingness to own an error and put things right.

All of them responded that they feel they handled this well (I beg to differ), that I can request access to the data if I want to do a re-analysis (which I had done early on, but got no response to), and that assumptions can always disputed.

After raising my concern about this with several of the authors in personal communications (to no avail), I complained with some of their institutes about this lack of scientific integrity.

The authors also did not revisit their booster-policy assessment in their response (they don't even mention it), even though the support for it all but vanished. They also failed to do a correct re-analysis themselves, even though it would be quick for them to do and to include in their response.

Incorrect interpretation of the role of COVID-19 vaccination boosters in saving lives – Authors' reply In our Article, we estimated that between December, 2020, and March, 2023, COVID-19 vaccines directly saved at least 1·6 million lives in those aged 25 years or older, in 34 of 54 countries, areas, an...

The authors wrote an authors' response to my Letter, published alongside it. Astonishingly, in it they misrepresented my Letter, pretending that I merely argued that their formulation was 'ambiguous':
thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Incorrect interpretation of the role of COVID-19 vaccination boosters in saving lives In their Article, Margaux M I Meslé and colleagues studied the number of European deaths averted by COVID-19 vaccination from December, 2020, to March, 2023.1 They conclude that the “first boosters sa...

Within days after publication of their paper, I pointed out their error in a private communication, and submitted this Letter to the journal (which took ages to get published):
thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Tiny problem:

The conclusion they drew from their analyses is completely wrong. They made a basic error that inflated the importance of the booster doses by an order of magnitude, relative to the impact of the primary course.

Oops... 😬

They concluded that half of all European lives 'saved' by the Covid19-vaccines were saved by dose 3 (see 1st screenshot). They saw this as a direct cause for concern about current low booster uptakes, and strong support for the current booster recommendations (see 2nd screenshot).

Estimated number of lives directly saved by COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023: a retrospective surveillance study Over nearly 2·5 years, most lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination were in older adults by first booster dose and during the Omicron period, reinforcing the importance of up-to-date vaccination among the...

❓ What's the state of scientific integrity in our public health institutes? Read on...

In 8/2024, @who.int-Europe together with many European health institutes such as @ukhsa.bsky.social and @sciensano.bsky.social published a paper in @lancetrespirmed.bsky.social:
thelancet.com/journals/lan...
🧵

With all respect, but in an honest debate it is important to engage with the best possible argument against your position.

Most people critical of "factchecking" are not against "the freedom to call bullshit". They are against creating a privileged subsidized class of people with exclusive rights.

Belgian Universities For PAlestine (EN)

De brief zelf kan je hier lezen:
belgianuniversitiesforpalestine.wordpress.com
En de lijst ondertekenaars:
belgianuniversitiesforpalestine.wordpress.com/prominent-si...

Meer dan 6.600 professoren en studenten roepen op tot academische boycot Israël: ‘Heel belangrijk signaal’ Een open brief vraagt om alle samenwerkingen met Israëlische universiteiten vanuit ons land stop te zetten. Meer dan 1.200 professoren en decanen, en duizenden studenten, ondertekenden de brief al. ‘D...

Met veel enthousiasme mee ondertekend:
www.demorgen.be/snelnieuws/m...

7) En dát vind ik dus een enorm falen van de media.

Maar #TikTok en #Musk zijn het probleem hoor jongens. 👍

6) Het gaat mijn petje te boven hoe het kan dat de EU onze privacy op een dienblaadje kan weggeven ad VS, tégen het advies in vh enige democratische orgaan dat Europa rijk is, en dat amper iemand dit lijkt te weten, laat staan dat de verantwoordelijken erover uitgebreid op de rooster zijn gelegd.

5) Die EP-resolutie, die dus meer dan terecht tégen deze nefaste beslissing van de @ec.europa.eu adviseerde, kreeg 306 voorstemmen, en slechts 27 tegenstemmen waaronder van twee Belgen: #GeertBourgeois en #JohanVanOvertveldt van de #NVA.

Ik geef het maar even mee.

Texts adopted - Adequacy of the protection afforded by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework - Thursday, 11 May 2023

4) Dit ondanks zeer sterke tegenstand van het @euparliament.bsky.social (dat in deze enkel kon adviseren - lang leve de Europese democratische waarden 🥳), zie deze resolutie:
europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docume...

Adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework | European Commissionen

3) Toch oordeelde de Europese Commissie (EC) in 7/2023, olv @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu en Eurocommissaris van Justitie #DidierReynders, dat FISA Section 702 geen beletsel is om de manier waarop de VS met Europese data omgaat standaard conform de GDPR te verklaren:
commission.europa.eu/document/fa0...

2) Relevanter voor Europese staatsburgers is dat FISA Section 702 sowieso ongebreidelde spionage toelaat op niet-Amerikanen, bvb wanneer die gebruikmaken van Amerikaanse communicatieapps (email, berichten,...), sociale media platforms, cloud hosting providers,...

1) Er is weer ophef in 🇺🇸 over de vraag of Sectie 702 van de FISA-spionagewet de Amerikaanse intelligentiediensten toelaat om ook Amerikaanse staatsburgers zonder autorisatie te bespioneren. Het antwoord is ja, maar enkel als ze met niet-Amerikanen communiceren die bespioneerd worden.

Niet stoppen. 🙏👍

Geen enkele, nul, zero pedo's gaan hiermee gepakt worden want die gebruiken alternatieve apps, zonder chatcontrol. Er wordt gecontroleerd tegen de digitale afdruk van gekende beelden terwijl de afdruk van een gekend beeld simpel gemanipuleerd kan worden.

Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘Court’), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejectin...

📰 Rijkelijk laat, maar beter laat dan nooit:
Het #ICC vaardigt aanhoudingsbevelen uit tegen Netanyahu en Gallant. 👍
(Bemerk: dit staat nog los van het lopende genocide-onderzoek door het #ICJ.)
www.icc-cpi.int/news/situati...

Klopt, schrijnend dat het zolang heeft moeten duren. Maar het is wel een eerste dominosteentje in de traditionele media van de lage landen, voor zover ik weet...

Wat zich in Gaza voltrekt is inmiddels een genocide te noemen. Belangrijker: het moet stoppen

Benieuwd wat @bsky.app hiervan denkt.
Ik ben het alvast eens met @trouw.bsky.social: wat #Israël in #Gaza doet, is #genocide in elke redelijke betekenis van het woord. En jullie?
www.trouw.nl/opinie/wat-z...