Episode 10: The Twin Illusions — How Pfizer and Moderna Bought the "Gods of Medicine"

 Previously, we exposed how Pfizer manipulated its clinical trial data, using the "Magic of Exclusion" to manufacture a 90% vaccine efficacy rate. But if you think Pfizer was the only one playing this game, you underestimate the pharmaceutical industry.

Today, we put Moderna under the microscope. And what we find is a carbon copy of the exact same statistical illusion.

■ The "Gods of Medicine": NEJM Before we look at the numbers, you need to understand the stage where this play was performed: The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

To the general public, it’s just a magazine. To the medical world, it is the absolute word of God. If a doctor gets a single paper published in the NEJM, they practically secure a guaranteed victory in the election for a professorship at any prestigious medical university. It is the ultimate authority.

And yet, both Pfizer and Moderna used the same cheap trick to get the "Gods" to endorse their products.

 Interactive  ABR, NNT, and RRR Calculator: to Stretch or compress the Placebo and Vaccine Infections bars

Adjust the sliders to see how the media's "90%+" efficacy is calculated.

Absolute Risk Reduction (ARR)
The actual drop in infection probability.
1.24%
Number Needed to Treat (NNT)
People to vaccinate to prevent 1 infection.
81
Relative Risk Reduction (RRR)
The "Efficacy" reported by the media.
94.05%
Visual Reality: Infections vs Total Participants (14,000)
Placebo Group
Vaccine Group
■ Moderna’s Playbook: The Exact Same Trick Let us look at Moderna’s celebrated trial data (COVE trial, 2020), proudly published in the NEJM.

  • Total Participants: 30,420

  • Participants actually used for evaluation: 28,207

Wait. Where did the other 2,213 people go? Just like Pfizer, Moderna conveniently "excluded" thousands of people who did not fit their perfect, narrow testing window. They removed the noise to ensure a beautiful result.

■ The Absolute Truth They Hide Now, let's look at the actual infections among the 28,207 people they did count.

  • Placebo Group (Unvaccinated): 185 infections.

  • Vaccine Group: 11 infections.

When you translate this into real-world probability (per 1,000 people):

  • Unvaccinated infection rate: 1.31% (About 13 people out of 1,000)

  • Vaccinated infection rate: 0.08% (Less than 1 person out of 1,000)

■ The Twin Illusions Here is where the magic happens.

If you look at the Absolute Risk Reduction (ARR)—how much your actual, real-world chance of getting sick drops—it is only 1.2% (1.31% - 0.08%). The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) is 81. You have to vaccinate 81 people just to prevent 1 person from getting sick. The other 80 people took the drug for no measurable benefit.

But Moderna, just like Pfizer, didn't report it that way. They used Relative Risk Reduction (RRR). They compared the 1.31% to the 0.08% and shouted: "It reduces the risk by 94.1%!"

Pfizer claimed 95%. Moderna claimed 94.1%. Both companies used the exact same "Magic of Exclusion." Both used Relative Risk to inflate a 1% real-world benefit into a 90%+ miracle. And both were rubber-stamped by the NEJM—the ultimate authority in medicine.

When the "Gods of Medicine" accept such blatant statistical manipulation, you have to ask: Are they blind, or are they complicit?

The illusion of efficacy is not a mistake. It is an industry standard.

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