Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Unmasking data in the COVID-19 vaccine era

Most pharmacovigilance professionals will have heard of masking –
a statistical issue where reports for one drug hide signals for
other drugs. But the problem gained fresh attention when record
amounts of reports began piling up for the COVID-19 vaccines. How
should we be unmasking data in the COVID-19 vaccine era?

This episode is part of the Uppsala Reports Long Reads series –
the most topical stories from UMC’s pharmacovigilance magazine,
brought to you in audio format. Find the original article
here.

After the read, we speak to data scientist Sara Vidlin, who
authored the article, to learn more about masking and how to deal
with it.

Tune in to find out: 


How masking evolves with the data 

Which methods can be used to unmask data 

What other pitfalls to watch out for when performing
quantitative analyses



Want to know more?
In the very beginning of the vaccine rollout, the USA
FDA observed how early signals for COVID-19 vaccines were delayed
because of other drugs masking them, highlighting how masking is
not a static phenomenon.

In 2013, Uppsala Monitoring Centre developed a simple strategy to
uncover masking by identifying and removing influential outliers.





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