Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Should we infect people with COVID-19? Although most people would say ‘no’, this prospect could help speed the development of a vaccine. In these trials, half the people would be treated with a test vaccine for COVID-19 and half the people would receive a placebo. Then, people in both arms would be infected with COVID-19…
Scientists often use randomized controlled trials (RCT) to examine whether certain treatments have a causal effect on patient outcomes. For social scientists, however, conducting an RCT is more difficult. Nevertheless, there have been a number of health policy trials. In a recent NEJM paper, Newhouse and Normand (2017) review some of these trials. A summary…