Tag: COVID-19 denial

America's Frontline Doctors

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.

/ July 31, 2023
Debate

RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan: Putting the old denialist technique of bad faith “Debate me, bro!” challenges on steroids

Joe Rogan conveyed a challenge by antivax crank turned Presidential candidate RFK Jr. to vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez to "debate me, bro!" In the week since, wealthy right wingers have added money to the inducement, and through an awful op-ed by Ross Douthat this weekend, even the New York Times has amped up the pressure for a "debate" about vaccines with...

/ June 26, 2023
Dr. Rashid Buttar

When an antivax physician “dies suddenly”: The case of Dr. Rashid Buttar

Last month, Dr. Rashid Buttar, a prominent antivax "integrative medicine" practitioner, died suddenly. Because he hadn't been vaccinated, antivaxxers struggled mightily to reconcile his death with their conspiracy theory about COVID-19 vaccines killing thousands "suddenly." It turns out, however, that that Dr. Buttar had not been a well man since 2016 and was as much a victim of quackery as his patients...

/ June 19, 2023

Steve Kirsch: How “anti-COVID-19 vaccine” antivax often becomes radicalized and just plain antivaccine

Tech bro turned COVID-19 misinformation superspreader and antivaxxer Steve Kirsch has now fully embraced "old school" vaccine-autism conspiracy theories, demonstrating how anti-COVID-19 vaccine antivaxxers frequently become just antivaxxers.

/ June 5, 2023
Aseem Malhotra

Unsafe and Ineffective: Aseem Malhotra

British consulting cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra has become the latest darling of the COVID-19 minimization and antivaccine movement in the UK. Previously known for anti-statin views and advocacy of the Pioppi diet who pivoted to more dangerous misinformation during the pandemic.

/ May 21, 2023
Study flow

Retracted papers about COVID-19 are more highly cited than they should be

Earlier this month a study showed that papers about COVID-19 that are retracted tend to be cited far more than average and continue to be heavily cited after retraction. Clearly, scientific publishing and the scientific community need to do better.

/ May 1, 2023

Ivermectin booster Dr. Tess Lawrie goes all-in for homeopathy for COVID and long COVID

Tess Lawrie has been promoting ivermectin for COVID-19 for two and a half years. Of late, she has becoming more of a general multipurpose quack, promoting ivermectin to treat cancer. Now she's promoting homeopathy for COVID and long COVID while a Research Fellow at St. Mary's University Twickenham. What does this tell us about medicine?

/ March 6, 2023
The Great Barrington Trio

Brownstone Institute admits that the Great Barrington Declaration was wrong (without actually admitting it was wrong)

The Brownstone Institute's Gabrielle Bauer claims vindication for the Great Barrington Declaration, the October 2020 document that advocated a "natural herd immunity" pandemic strategy, with an ill-defined "focused protection" strategy to protect those most at risk of death. In the fine print, however, Bauer tacitly admits that its core assumption was badly mistaken, minimizing it as not getting all the "details" right.

/ February 20, 2023
Deaths from COVID-19

COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children, but that doesn’t stop some of my colleagues from arguing against vaccinating them

Contrary to what the "COVID-19 isn't a threat to children" contingent says, COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children. Yet "not antivax" doctors continue, either unknowingly or knowingly, recycle old antivax tropes to argue against vaccinating children against this disease.

/ February 6, 2023
Gaslighting gaslighter

Was 2022 the “year of the gaslighter” with respect to COVID-19?

"Gaslighting" is a term that refers to the manipulation of someone in order to lead them to question their own reality and even sanity. Last month, a COVID-19 minimizer and antivaxxer, C. J. Hopkins, declared 2022 the "year of the gaslighter," revealing yet again that it's always projection with science denying propagandists. Unfortunately, 2023 looks to hold a lot more of the...

/ January 2, 2023