Tag: antivaccine
Dr. William Makis and “turbo cancer”: Falsely blaming COVID-19 vaccines for cancer
A prominent oncologist and cancer biologist, Wafik El-Deiry, recently amplified claims that COVID-19 vaccines cause "turbo cancer," wanting a "civil discourse about science and actual answers that are missing." Unfortunately, calls for "civil discourse" by an eminent oncologist about unfounded claims only lends undeserved credibility to them. So, once more into the fray...
Overhyping Vaccines Wasn’t Pro-Vaccine. It Was Pro-Stop-Worrying-About-COVID.
Overselling the vaccine in 2021 was not being pro-vaccine. It was pro-stop-worrying-about-the pandemic, from the doctors who assured us herd immunity was imminent.
Health misinformation now has powerful allies
Misinformation and conspiracy theories about health had long been a growing problem before the pandemic, but it took COVID-19 to get the government and researchers to take it seriously. Now, a new report in The Washington Post adds to previous reporting from multiple sources describing how allies of misinformation—and not just health misinformation—are striking back under the guise of defending "free speech."
Dr. Vinay Prasad fully embraces the antivax message of “do not comply”
COVID-19 "contrarians" like Dr. Vinay Prasad have long complained about being labelled "antivaccine," which they view as unfair. Why, then, do they embrace antivax messages like "do not comply," even if they don't use the exact words?
The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 5/10)
The fifth installment in the grand debunk the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 5.
The COVID-as-bacterial-pneumonia conspiracy theory rises again
In yet another example of everything hold being new again, antivaxxers have resurrected the claim that deaths due to COVID-19 are actually due to bacterial pneumonia, just as antivaxxers used to say the same thing about influenza deaths. It is, of course, another case of confusing cause and effect in order to obfuscate.
The Ohio State Medical Board has finally suspended the medical license of antivax quack Sherri Tenpenny
Last week, the Ohio State Medical Board suspended the medical license of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a longtime antivax quack. The only question is: What took them so long, and why did it take the pandemic for them to act? Also, is there less to this action than meets the eye?
Sensible Medicine: Medical Misinformation and Medical Groupthink From the Medical Establishment
We all have biases, including in-group loyalty. It's often easy to see such bias in others, though nearly impossible to see in oneself. As such, it's both normal and dangerous to imagine that only those who disagree with you are vulnerable to groupthink, while you are perfect beacon of independent, rational thought- along with everyone who agrees with you.
The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 4/10)
The debunking resumes with the fourth installment in debunking the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down”: Chapter 4, “Epidemiology 101," in which the antivax authors put a biased spin on basic concepts in epidemiology as a lead-in to their obviously intended purpose of claiming that all the studies finding vaccines to be safe and effective should be discounted.
COVID-19 has exposed the toothlessness of state medical boards
A report in The Washington Post last week revealed just how badly state medical boards have been failing when dealing with physicians spreading COVID-19 misinformation and using quackery to prevent and treat the disease. None of this is anything new, unfortunately. The pandemic has merely stress tested state medical boards, and most have failed because of political choices made long ago.