Results for: COVID-19
Improving how the NIH decides which grants to fund: Reality vs. conspiracy
Last week, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a plan to decrease the problem of reputational bias in grant funding. I couldn't help but contrast how hard the NIH tries to use the most rigorous scientific criteria to decide whose grants to fund with the conspiracy theory that Anthony Fauci personally doles out NIH dollars like a mob boss...
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...
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.
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.
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.
Did Lockdowns Cause Cancer?
Attempts to rewrite pandemic history must be resisted.
Brownstone uses flawed data analysis to minimize COVID in NYC; An NYC hospitalist’s perspective
Guest posters Drs. Eric Burnett and Jonathan Laxton provide a lengthy rebuttal to Dr. Jessica Hockett's claims that NYC did not suffer a deadly, almost overwhelming wave of COVID-19 in 2020.
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:...
The 2022-2023 Respiratory Virus Season Hits Early and Hard: Part 2
What is RSV and why is it so bad this season? I discuss this and a promising new vaccine candidate.

