Richard Edwards

Public health researcher working to achieve Smokefree Aotearoa/New Zealand. Personal views expressed, reposts may not be endorsements. He/him.

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

@EricCrampton ??? logic. Vaping (daily and monthly) prevalence increased from 2022/23 to 2023/24, including in just about every age group except 15-17 year olds. Shouldn't smoking prevalence have decreased?

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

Jeffrey G. Willett and Maher Karam-Hage put forward a very thoughtfully argued endgame strategy for tobacco smoking in the United States. https://t.co/qmTdgE9HoM

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

Richard Edwards
Interestingly, Minister Casey Costello's media statement in response to the NZHS findings managed not to note the failure of smoking prevalence to decline. https://t.co/5Abvk3OeIK

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

(Repost, bad link in previous) We have a new @PHCCAotearoa Briefing on smoking trends in Aotearoa New Zealand. For 1st year since 2011/12 there was no decline in daily/current smoking prevalence. Not a great start for new government and health minister. https://t.co/DZ43NFJRLl

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

@FreshSmokeFree @PHCCAotearoa Whoops. Correct link is here, thanks for pointing that out. I will resend the tweet as well. https://t.co/DZ43NFJRLl

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

We have a new @PHCCAotearoa Briefing on trends in smoking in Aotearoa New Zealand. For the first year since 2011/12 there was no decline in daily or current smoking prevalence. Not a great start for the new government and health minister. https://t.co/iHSQkTchl6...

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

Interestingly, Minister Casey Costello's media statement in response to the NZHS findings managed not to note the failure of smoking prevalence to decline. https://t.co/P0cgSf3R62...

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

Kia ora. Currently on a sick day due to COVID. I thought I would use the time productively & begin migrating to https://t.co/Gbql3liWAE in response to recent events with X/Musk/US Election. New handle is @predwards.bsky.social Hopefully, see you there.

[Prof Jeffrey S Morris @jsm2334]

John Iaonnidis and collaborators just published a preprint estimating lives saved all over the world from the vaccine rollouts

They estimated 2.533 million deaths were averted, 82% among people vaccinated before any infection (thus exposing their immune system to the sarscov2 antigen through vaccine rather than viral infection), 57% during the Omicron period, and 90% in people >60yrs old (but only 2% at long term care facilities).

Their calculations are notably more conservative than others.

Their results agree with what I have been saying all along has been clear by a critical assessment of existing data and studies:

1. The vaccine rollouts had a tremendously positive net benefit

2. Especially in the first 18m after rollouts when population immunity levels were lower and risk of severe/fatal disease higher,

In spite of their limitations and risks revealed in the accruing data and studies including:

3. Reduced effectiveness (especially vs infection) after antibody waning and

4. Some rare but serious minority harm risks (most notably myocarditis for mRNA vaccines and VITT for viral vectors) that are important to monitor.

They fell short of the unrealistic expectations some raised after rollout and, like all things, were shown to have some risk,

But those who have tried to talk like they never provided any benefit or led to an extreme high level of harm that outweighed the benefit have always been far off base from what the evidence has shown.

If I can find the time, later I’ll discuss in more detail in a thread.

https://t.co/NEfSNKpjGC…

[Mike Hudema @MikeHudema]

Portugal shut down their last remaining coal fired power plant and is fostering a renewable energy revolution. They could be completely renewable by 2040 if not sooner. It can be done.

We have the solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate

#climate #energy #renewables #go100re

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

Difficult to come to any other conclusion than Govt policy has torpedoed the EV and PHEV market in NZ. https://t.co/2333Xh2Rp2

[Mike Hudema @MikeHudema]

Paris fighting pollution and improving public health.
-No diesel cars from 2024
-100% #cleanenergy buses by 2025
-No petrol cars from 2030
-improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

We have the solutions, implement them. #ActOnClimate

#climate #energy #GreenNewDeal

[Boyd Swinburn @BoydSwinburn]

Could ⁦@nzherald⁩ please disclose that tobacco companies are members of ⁦@nzinitiative⁩ when ⁦@EricCrampton⁩ writes about tobacco https://t.co/nUpu5lzAYc

[Sarah Jackson @DrSarahEJackson]

New paper estimates the number of 18-25s in the UK taking up smoking each year, at a national, regional, and local level.

UK: 125,700 per year
England: 105,700
Scotland: 11,500
Wales: 6,500
Northern Ireland: 3,800

https://t.co/9vBcuEXlzQ

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

This thread seems relevant given today's revealations about the highly critical comments from a senior Ministry of Health official about the 'independent advice' Minister Costello cited to support the HTP excise tax cut.

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

🧵1/ Casey Costello released today the 'independent advice' she said she had received & which she used to justify cutting HTP excise tax & ignore the Ministry of Health's recommendation not to do so. https://t.co/Y9EZoDLzk4

[Brent Toderian @BrentToderian]

THIS IS HUGE. Paris City Hall has announced that starting on Monday, Paris will limit (not ban) car traffic in the city centre, as cities like Ghent have done. They’re creating a limited traffic zone (ZTL) about 2 sq miles in size, to clean the air & create more space for people.

[Rod Emmerson @rodemmerson]

Rod Emmerson’s cartoons: Week of October 28 - November 3 https://t.co/tlN24LC1HH

[Sharon Murdoch @domesticanimal]

Is a swastika really less anti-social than a gang patch?
My #cartoon today #nzpol

[Richard Edwards @ProfEdwardsNZ]

@PHCCAotearoa briefing led by Rose Crossin with @JudeBall7 and @JoeBoden66 sets out the evidence for the impact of alcohol on risk of suicide and mental health, refuting Mike King's comments yesterday. https://t.co/HcIT8Z9dm1

[Jay Cummings @LongFormMath]

This must be tweeted every Halloween. I don’t make the rules