Tag: antivaccine

A virtual meeting screenshot features five participants, with one highlighted in dim lighting. Others are visible in small window thumbnails, including one with a bookshelf backdrop. Various text labels adorn the screen, reminiscent of how Dr. Mercola might organize an informative webinar.

The Mercola Tapes: One of the wealthiest antivaxxers in the world is scammed

Dr. Joe Mercola embraced "alternative health" in the late 1990s, including quackery and antivax, and has since become very wealthy. Lately, he's fallen under the spell of a psychic grifter and declared himself to be the "new Jesus." What will happen to his business empire?

/ March 24, 2025
Hyperbaric oxygen chamber

Quackery (still) kills: A five-year-old boy dies in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber

Even as quacks and antivaxxers take over our federal government's health apparatus, let's not forget why we need stronger, not laxer, regulation of "unconventional" medical practices.

/ March 17, 2025
informed consent vs. misinformed refusal

Misinformed refusal: What antivaxxers are really promoting when they invoke “informed consent”

Our new Secretary of Health and Human Services wants to change CDC messaging about vaccines to emphasize "informed consent." What he really means is misinformed refusal.

/ March 10, 2025
Great Barrington Declaration authors Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Sunetra Gupta in front of AIER headquarters in Great Barrington, MA.

Paul Thacker relitigates criticisms of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and the Great Barrington Declaration

"Journalist" Paul Thacker defends Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and the Great Barrington Declaration by rehashing the same old deceptive rhetoric that was easily debunked when it was first employed.

/ March 6, 2025
Measles rash

Measles is back, and so are all the old antivax tropes about it

Measles is back, and so are all the old antivax tropes about the disease and the vaccine. Unfortunately, there's an antivaxxer in charge.

/ March 3, 2025
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.)

How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will undermine and ultimately destroy US vaccination programs

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated to be Secretary of Health & Human Services, I called him an "extinction-level threat" to public health. Here's how he will attempt to make vaccines extinct in the US.

/ February 24, 2025
So it begins: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacks

So it begins: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as HHS Secretary and immediately starts dismantling US federal science infrastructure

The nightmare has come true. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as HHS Secretary and didn't wait long to start dismantling federal science and health programs. The White House even formed a "MAHA commission" to draw up a battle plan.

/ February 17, 2025
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) and Donald Trump. MAHA vs. FDA

MAHA: Echoes of The Secret

When you look at Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" movement, there is a notable echo of an idea once promoted by Oprah Winfrey, namely The Secret, combined with antivax and alt-med tropes.

/ February 3, 2025
National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The attack on the NIH has begun

Donald Trump has been sworn in, and his new administration has immediately turned its sights on the NIH. The danger to US biomedical research has never been more acute.

/ January 27, 2025
Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in (MAHA) paradise?

Even as President Donald Trump is inaugurated today and his pick for HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. prepares to face confirmation hearings, there is trouble in "make America healthy" paradise.

/ January 20, 2025