A year and one-half ago Merck, a large pharmaceutical company, announced the findings of their experiment on Paxlovid, a new drug's effect on Covid 19 patients.

There were 860 unvaccinated participants with Covid 19 in the experimental trial, all viewed as vulnerable to severe Covid or hospitalization. The pill was randomly provided to half of the participants, the other half received a placebo.

The results were that 6% of the pill taking participants needed to be hospitalized, while 16% of the non-pill taking participants needed to be hospitalized.

a). Use statistical tools covered for test 1 in PLCY 304 to assess these results with as much precision as possible. (10 points)

b). Discuss any concerns or pitfalls that this study might have. (It's like you get to be the FDA sort of!). (10 points)