Category: Critical Thinking
Autism prevalence increases to 1 in 38, and antivaxxers blame vaccines without using the word “vaccine”
The CDC updated its estimates for the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders. Predictably, antivaxxers blame the increasing prevalence of ASDs reported, particularly in Black children, on "environmental factors," which is antivax code for, "Vaccines are to blame."
Andrew Wakefield after 25 years: Paving the way for COVID-19 quacks and antivaxxers
It was 25 years ago yesterday that Andrew Wakefield launched the modern iteration of the antivaccine movement.In doing so, he laid down a template that antivax quacks today still follow.
Diagnostic Reflections
At the end of a long and storied career I reflect upon making a medical diagnosis. No reflection is one way to diagnose a vampire.
When antivax “died suddenly” conspiracy mongering vultures target a friend and colleague
After SBM suffered the unexpected loss of our co-founder Dr. Harriet Hall last week, we were angered and distressed to see antivaxxers saying that she had "died suddenly" because of COVID-19 vaccines. This dangerous narrative is even more painful when it targets a friend. Dr. Gorski tries to get past his initial anger and explain this dangerous conspiracy theory.
How antivaxxers laid the groundwork to blame COVID-19 vaccines for Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest
Right after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed from a cardiac arrest after a tackle and was resuscitated on the field, antivaxxers immediately pounced, blaming COVID-19 vaccines even as CPR was still continuing. That's because antivaxxers had "primed the pump" over more than a year with stories of young athletes who had supposedly "died suddenly." (Warning: This one's long, even by Gorski...
Quack Quack
Joe Schwarcz's new book Quack Quack is an informative and entertaining look at quackery and pseudoscience past and present. A delightful read.
Tomasz Witkowski Busts More Myths
Tomasz Witkowski has written another book filled with skepticism and critical thinking.
Announcing a New Children’s Book that Promotes Critical Thinking
A new book teaches young children about critical thinking and evidence. It's not only educational but colorful and funny. Too many adults are like Henry, the little boy in the story who rejects clear evidence and persists in what he wants to believe.
Apples, Oranges, and How Not to Analyze a Vaccine RCT
The evidence is overwhelming that COVID vaccines keep people alive and out of the hospital. Only someone who starts with the conclusion that vaccines don't work and then works backwards to find the evidence could claim otherwise.
“Coronaphobia”: How antivaxxers and pandemic minimizers pathologize fear of disease
Over the weekend, Dr. Lucy McBride, a concierge medicine doctor who has become famous as a pandemic minimizer and one of the drivers of "Urgency of Normal", Tweeted an article that she had written over a year ago about "coronaphobia". Whether she understands it or not, this is a very old antivax trope: To pathologize fear of infectious disease as mental illness.