Month: November 2021
Illness, Healing, and Other Terms That Can Be Confusing
Watch your language. Some terms that are frequently confused: pain vs. suffering, disease vs. illness, cure vs. healing. Science-based medicine focuses on diseases; alternative medicine focuses on illness: that explains a lot.
Pfizer’s new COVID-19 protease inhibitor drug is not just “repackaged ivermectin”
Pfizer recently announced that its new protease inhibitor-based drug was 89% effective in preventing hospitalization due to COVID-19 and it is seeking an emergency use authorization for it from the FDA. Antivaxxers claim that ivermectin targets the same protease and is being "suppressed" to protect Pfizer's profits from the new drug. What's the real story? Hint: Antivaxxers took a grain of truth...
Doctors Must be Honest with Parents About Known Risks of COVID-19
Pediatricians know their job is to present accurate and thorough information so parents can make informed decisions. Contrarian doctors who write about COVID-19 should spend less time lecturing pediatricians and more time learning from them.
A 2-Month-Old Infant Seriously Injured by Chiropractic Neck Adjustment
A young infant was severely injured by unnecessary chiropractic neck adjustments for a benign condition.
Pandemic drives huge surge in herbal remedy sales
The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a boom in herbal supplement sales.
Two New Antivirals Targeting COVID-19
There are two new drugs on the horizon that actually work against COVID-19.
Those Joe Namath Medicare Commercials
Joe Namath is promoting Medicare Advantage Plans on TV. Some of what he says is misleading. Here's the rest of the story.
What the heck happened to The BMJ?
Last week, The BMJ published an "exposé" by Paul Thacker alleging patient unblinding, data falsification, and other wrongdoing by a company running three sites for the massive clinical trial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. It was a highly biased story embraced by antivaxxers, with a deceptively framed narrative and claims not placed into proper context, leading me to look into the broader...
Children, Underlying Conditions, and COVID-19
That we can identify children who have a higher risk for severe outcomes shouldn't be used to minimize the virus and argue against vaccination in healthy children. Rather, we should recognize there are populations of vulnerable children that need extra protection, and the best way to do this is through vaccinating ourselves and all eligible children.
Too many lab tests still escape FDA review, threatening patient safety
Even as the lab testing market grows, too many tests escape FDA review based on a meaningless categorization that has nothing to do with patient safety. Congress should pass the VALID Act of 2021, allowing the FDA to adequately regulate direct-to-consumer and other lab tests with the potential to harm the public.