Category: Vaccines

Do Not Comply

Dr. Vinay Prasad fully embraces the antivax message of “do not comply”

COVID-19 "contrarians" like Dr. Vinay Prasad have long complained about being labelled "antivaccine," which they view as unfair. Why, then, do they embrace antivax messages like "do not comply," even if they don't use the exact words?

/ September 11, 2023

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 5/10)

The fifth installment in the grand debunk the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 5.

/ September 7, 2023

Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines

Self-Amplifying RNA vaccines are coming. Here's a primer to get you ready.

/ September 6, 2023
Bacterial pneumonia

The COVID-as-bacterial-pneumonia conspiracy theory rises again

In yet another example of everything hold being new again, antivaxxers have resurrected the claim that deaths due to COVID-19 are actually due to bacterial pneumonia, just as antivaxxers used to say the same thing about influenza deaths. It is, of course, another case of confusing cause and effect in order to obfuscate.

/ September 4, 2023

I Reject Your Medical Reality and I Substitute Death

Denying reality and substituting his own worked for Adam Savage. Not so much as an approach to COVID.

/ August 15, 2023
Sherri Tenpenny and magnetism

The Ohio State Medical Board has finally suspended the medical license of antivax quack Sherri Tenpenny

Last week, the Ohio State Medical Board suspended the medical license of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a longtime antivax quack. The only question is: What took them so long, and why did it take the pandemic for them to act? Also, is there less to this action than meets the eye?

/ August 14, 2023

Sensible Medicine: Medical Misinformation and Medical Groupthink From the Medical Establishment

We all have biases, including in-group loyalty. It's often easy to see such bias in others, though nearly impossible to see in oneself.  As such, it's both normal and dangerous to imagine that only those who disagree with you are vulnerable to groupthink, while you are perfect beacon of independent, rational thought- along with everyone who agrees with you.

/ August 11, 2023

The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 4/10)

The debunking resumes with the fourth installment in debunking the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 4, “Epidemiology 101," in which the antivax authors put a biased spin on basic concepts in epidemiology as a lead-in to their obviously intended purpose of claiming that all the studies finding vaccines to be safe and effective should be discounted.

/ August 10, 2023
ABIM Logo

The American Board of Internal Medicine finally acts against two misinformation-spreading doctors

Last week, I wrote about how COVID-19 has exposed the toothlessness of state medical boards. Last week, the American Board of Internal Medicine announced that it was going to permanently revoke the board certifications of two COVID-19 contrarian doctors, Drs. Paul Marik and Pierre Kory. Can medical specialty boards make up for the failure of state medical boards, at least partially?

/ August 7, 2023
America's Frontline Doctors

COVID-19 has exposed the toothlessness of state medical boards

A report in The Washington Post last week revealed just how badly state medical boards have been failing when dealing with physicians spreading COVID-19 misinformation and using quackery to prevent and treat the disease. None of this is anything new, unfortunately. The pandemic has merely stress tested state medical boards, and most have failed because of political choices made long ago.

/ July 31, 2023