Category: Vaccines
In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, can we trust the CDC and FDA any more?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US, increasing concern has been expressed about the politicization of the CDC and FDA due to pressure from the Trump administration to downplay the severity of the pandemic and push out treatments and a vaccine as fast as possible, potentially at the expense of safety. This has led me to a disturbing question: Can I trust...
New book: Anti-vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement
This book is a handy compendium of everything worth knowing about the anti-vaccine movement and how to challenge the misinformation.
Don’t use a COVID-19 vaccine, cry the antivaxxers, because of the horseshoe crab!
Antivaxxers are now urging vegans not to use a COVID-19 vaccine because blood from horseshoe crabs will be used in its manufacture. At its heart, this is no different than their weaponization of beliefs against other vaccine ingredients, except that it does use a germ of a good point that we should be looking for other ways to ensure that vaccines have...
Polio Eliminated From Africa
Wild-type polio has been eliminated from Africa. Now only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain.
Russian and Other COVID Vaccines
Russia's approval of a COVID-19 vaccine is premature and counterproductive.
Antivaccine leader Del Bigtree on COVID-19: “Let’s catch this cold!” Why antivaxxers and coronavirus conspiracy theorists are often one in the same.
Last week, antivaccine activist Del Bigtree posted a rant denying the severity of COVID-19, blaming the chronically ill for having made themselves vulnerable to severe disease through their lifestyle choices, and urging the young and healthy to "catch this cold". His rant shows exactly why COVID-19 conspiracy theorists and antivaxxers have such an affinity for each other and have teamed up to...
J.B. Handley’s unthinking person’s guide to the COVID-19 pandemic
J.B. Handley was the founder of the antivaccine group Generation Rescue. Unfortunately, in the era of COVID-19 he's started peddling pseudoscience related to the pandemic. Some things never change.
No, Everything You Thought You Knew About Disease Is Not Wrong
The authors of this book are not doctors or scientists, but they try to convince readers that science-based medicine gets it all wrong, that germs don't cause disease, and that drugs and vaccines can't possibly work. No, the book gets it all wrong.
Antivaxxers launch a preemptive disinformation war against a COVID-19 vaccine that doesn’t yet exist
We don't yet have a vaccine against COVID-19, but that hasn't stopped the antivaccine movement from launching a preemptive disinformation war on social media against it. Unfortunately, as a recent study demonstrates, on Facebook at least, they have been so successful that it is possible that antivaccine messaging will surpass pro-vaccine messaging on FB within a decade.
Medical conspiracy theories and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned almost innumerable conspiracy theories, and conspiracists like the antivaccine movement have joined forces with COVID-19 conspiracy theorists. To combat the proliferation of pseudoscience rooted in conspiracy theories, it is useful to step back and examine the nature of conspiracy theories, including ones that are not medical, even ones like QAnon. Critical thinking is the key to inoculating...