Category: Vaccines

Clots

A clot too far: An embalmer dissects antivax misinformation about blood clots in Died Suddenly

Two weeks ago, COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Stew Peters released an antivax pseudodocumentary, Died Suddenly, whose main claim is that COVID-19 vaccines cause clots that have caused a massive wave of people to "die suddenly". Key to its narrative are embalmers claiming that they are seeing more clots in the bodies they are embalming than ever before. SBM has recruited Benjamin Schmidt, an...

/ December 5, 2022
Clots

Died Suddenly: A tsunami of antivax misinformation and conspiracy theories

Everything old is new again when it comes to antivax tropes. Stew Peters' antivax pseudodocumentary Died Suddenly resurrects the old antivax conspiracy that vaccines kill, the plan being to cause “depopulation” that will allow “global elites” to control the world. Dr. Gorski watched the whole movie so that you don't have to.

/ December 5, 2022
NY puberty blocker article

What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth

The New York Times recently published an article expressing grave concern about the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents. Unfortunately, the reporting ignored evidence and important context to weave a narrative portraying puberty blockers as far more risky than they actually are.

, / December 4, 2022

The Aseem Malhotra lecture isn’t what you think it is

In November 2022, Dr. Aseem Malhotra gave a lecture that was more about advancing a narrative than explaining the science.

/ December 3, 2022
The Cow-Pock

What does “antivaccine” really mean since the pandemic hit?

We frequently use terms like “antivaccine,” “antivax,” and “antivaxxers.” Critics think it’s a “gotcha” to ask how we define “antivax” or to accuse us of reflexively label "questioning" of vaccines as "antivax." It's not. There are gray areas, but not so gray that the word is never appropriate. Has anything changed since I first tried to define "antivaccine" in 2010? The answer:...

/ November 28, 2022

Don’t Forget About the Flu

We are heading into a bad flu season. Get vaccinated.

/ November 16, 2022

Geriatric Preventive Medicine Appointments Covered by Medicare

Medicare offers free preventive medicine visits for those over 65: the Welcome to Medicare visit and the Annual Wellness Visit. Increased awareness of these benefits would improve health care, save taxpayer money, and reduce inequities of preventive medicine care for underserved populations.

/ November 8, 2022

Risk of Myocarditis Following COVID-19 Vaccine

Risk of myocarditis following mRNA vaccines is real but tiny, and far outweighed by the benefit of vaccines.

/ November 2, 2022

The Subvariants Are Coming

A wave of Omicron subvariants are coming. So get vaccinated.

/ October 26, 2022
Ducks quack

The making of COVID-19 “contrarian” doctors

In 2009, I tried to answer the question: How do doctors become quacks and antivaxxers? A Twitter encounter suggested to me that an update to that post is massively overdue.

/ October 24, 2022