Last week Markus Lanz presented a graphic entitled “The vaccination effect” on his talk show.
However, the interpretation was extremely confusing.
Hamburg - Markus Lanz has turned to serious issues again in recent years.
After his flop as a moderator on “Wetten, dass ..?” He only concentrates on his own talk show to discuss socially relevant topics.
Last Wednesday (November 10th) the focus was on the development of the number of infections, the current measures on the coronavirus and, last but not least, the compulsory vaccination.
The moderator presented a graphic that caused a lot of confusion among the audience.
Effectiveness of vaccinations: Lanz misinterprets - editorial team regrets
With the title “The vaccination effect” the bar graph appears on the screen. It is about infections in over 60-year-olds with a known vaccination status. Lanz pointed out in his interpretation of the diagram that the vaccination apparently showed less effect in the age group mentioned than previously assumed. The editorial team of the show now regrets this interpretation and corrects: "The resulting impression that the vaccination is less effective in the age group mentioned than previously assumed is incorrect."
The virologist Melanie Brinkmann, who was present on the show, recently commented on the graphic via Twitter and offers a correct interpretation of the diagram.
The scientist makes it clear in advance: “It shows that the vaccination works very well and as expected!” In the comments, the virologist breaks down the individual columns.
Melanie Brinkmann on misinterpretation in Markus Lanz: "Difficult situation"
Brinkmann: “In the age group over 60, 91 percent of people are vaccinated, 9 percent are unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated. So there are about 10 times more (91/9) vaccinated people than unvaccinated people over 60. "The virologist interprets the high number of" infections with hospitalization "as follows:" 45 percent of hospitalized patients over 60 with corona infection are vaccinated; 55 percent are not or incomplete. So there are slightly fewer vaccinated than unvaccinated patients - exactly 0.82 times (45/55) - although there are about 10 times as many vaccinated people as unvaccinated people. "
In summary, according to Brinkmann, one can say: “Vaccinated persons are hospitalized 1 / 0.081 = approx. 12 times less often than unvaccinated persons (calculation: (45/55) / (91/9) = 0.081).
The presentation seems a bit strange, but that's exactly how it is to be expected at the moment. ”Why didn't Lanz correct them on the show?
The
47-year-old told the
Braunschweiger Zeitung
: "It was a very difficult situation to have to comment spontaneously on this rather misleading graphic."
Interpretation error in Markus Lanz: Brinkmann on "misleading graphics"
The following representation has in the #Lanz broadcast v.
11/10
led to confusion.
Here is an explanation of how it should be interpreted correctly, and one thing first: it shows that the vaccination works very well and as expected!
pic.twitter.com/o8CQa7VR2b
- Melanie Brinkmann (@BrinkmannLab) November 14, 2021
Lanz also speaks on the show about various prognoses that are currently proving to be true.
Among other things, he reads various shocking quotes from the virologist Christian Drosten from the beginning of the year, with which the scientist is unfortunately now proved right.