By: Dr. Carl Henghan and Dr. Tom Jefferson
Dr. Tom Jefferson is the lead author of the newly updated Cochrane review on the evidence on masks and other physical interventions for combating respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2. Following the publication of the review Dr. Jefferson was interviewed by his colleague, Oxford’s Professor Carl Heneghan. There follows a full transcript of the interview.
CH: Welcome to the Trust the Evidence podcast with Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson. We’re coming to you today because last night was the release of a Cochrane systematic review on physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses, which Tom leads. Tom, I’m just going to come to you with a first question. This is an update of the Cochrane review. So just tell me how long have you been doing this review and which update is this now.
TJ: So, a Cochrane review is a study which synthesises all available studies – all that we can find or identity – on a particular topic. It follows a highly structured format and is always preceded by publication of a protocol. All this is to minimise the bias. Also, it is extensively transparent. In this case we are looking at about 300 pages of review. Now, the review called “Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses” is called in code A122 for short and I will be using that acronym simply because it is just too long a title. So the protocol was first published in 2006 and then the first version was published in 2007, updated in 2009, 2010, 2011, and then 2020, so this 2023 is the fifth update of this review. And the reason why we update the reviews is they are soon out of date if we don’t do that, especially in some fast moving topics.
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/06/dr-carl-heneghan-interviews-dr-tom-jefferson-about-his-major-new-study-showing-masks-have-no-clear-effect/