Category: Vaccines
A new study reinforces the conclusion that autism is primarily genetic
Last week, the largest epidemiological study of its kind was published and concluded, once again, that autism is primarily due to genes and that the environmental component of autism risk is much smaller. Not surprisingly, once again antivaxers didn't want to hear that message.
The Latest Ebola Outbreak
The second largest Ebola outbreak is underway. This time we have an effective vaccine, but political unrest and distrust of science may be our real vulnerability.
Bad Documentary Review: Family Shots
Amazon removed a number of anti-vax documentaries in March but a few still remain unfortunately. Family Shots is a anti-vax propaganda film pretending to be a documentary about a father trying to find out if vaccines are safe. It also got government funding to be made. Yeah...
Facebook, Google, and social media vs. medical misinformation: An update
Over the last couple of weeks, there have been two major stories on the efforts of social media companies to combat health misinformation on their platforms. What are they doing, and are they succeeding? Dr. Gorski decided to look into these questions.
An Independence Day Tribute to Vaccination
In language that still resonates, Jacobson v. Massachusetts (U.S. Supreme Court, 1905) affirmed state authority to protect health, safety and welfare for the common good with mandatory vaccination despite individual non-medical objections.
The Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities elects antivaxer Yehuda Shoenfeld to its ranks
Yehuda Shoenfeld is an Israeli scientist who has promoted the idea that adjuvants in vaccines cause ASIA, Autoimmunity/Autoinflammation Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants, a vaguely defined catch-all diagnosis that encompasses vague symptomatology and unproven links to certain autoantibodies, all caused by adjuvants in vaccines, especially aluminum. Last week, Shoenfeld was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, an embarrassment to the...
Deception by omission: Del Bigtree’s ICAN calls the studies licensing MMR into question
Del Bigtree's antivaccine group Informed Consent Action Network issued a press release questioning the data used to license the MMR vaccine, with Bigtree claiming on a recent episode of his vlog Highwire that it causes significant GI issues that the FDA "covered up." As usual, Bigtree is deceiving by omission.
How To Respond to Anti-Vaxxers
How do we best address the anti-vaccine phenomenon? It's complicated.
Measles outbreaks and the antivaccine movement
Dr. Gorski returns from medical leave and finds that a lot has been going on with respect to vaccines, antivaxers, and measles outbreaks. Measles outbreaks are changing the narrative, emboldening legislators to tighten vaccine mandates, and also making antivaxers more radical. However, the narrative is, as is usually the case, more complex than what we usually hear.
Another Measles Outbreak – Blame Antivaxxers
We are in the midst of record-breaking measles outbreaks. This is the time to push for stronger regulations and to get rid of non-medical exemptions.