Tag: COVID-19
“Censorship” and “thoughtcrime”? Antivaxxers and COVID-19 contrarians attack California AB 2098
One of the oldest tropes favored by quacks of all stripes, including antivaxxers, is to portray any attempt at regulating their quackery as an assault on freedom of speech. It's therefore not surprising that after its passage by the California legislature prominent spreaders of COVID-19 misinformation are labeling AB2098, which seeks clarify and codify the power of the Medical Board of California...
Dr. Vinay Prasad echoes a common antivax trope that portrays concern about a deadly disease as irrational fear
Before the pandemic, antivaxxers likened concern about childhood diseases to mental illness. In the age of COVID-19, Dr. Vinay Prasad accuses medicine of "legitimizing" irrational anxiety and says we should treat COVID like the flu—with one telling omission. In a recent paid Substack, he doubles down and accuses physicians and scientists of anxiety disorders that "interfere with people's lives".
Jay Bhattacharya errs on excess mortality in New Zealand
Jay Bhattacharya claims that New Zealand COVID policy was “a grand failure” based on flawed logic and a misinterpretation of the data. He should retract.
Did New Zealand Let Too Few People Die of COVID?
Doctors used to agree mass death was a bad thing. Not anymore.
Peer review fail: Vaccine publishes antivax propaganda disguised as “reanalyses” of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial data
In order portray COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous, Peter Doshi has now managed to get poorly designed and performed "reanalyses" of the clinical trial data used by the FDA to grant emergency use approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines published in two reputable journals, The BMJ and Vaccine? What happened?
COVID-19 vaccines and the Nuremberg Code
Antivaxxers love to claim that vaccine mandates (especially COVID-19 vaccine mandates) violate the Nuremberg Code and call for Nuremberg-style tribunals to hold public health and vaccine advocates "accountable". As usual, they have no idea what they are talking about. This is also not a new antivax narrative, although what is unprecedented is that what was once fringe even among antivaxxers is now...
Lockdowns “Postponed the Inevitable”. Is That a Bad Thing?
Lockdowns postponed COVID for millions of people until after they were vaccinated. Some doctors feel that's a bad thing.
Is it “Natural and Healthy” When Children Get Sick With COVID?
The notion that society and children benefit when they contract vaccine-preventable diseases used to be relegated to the fringes of the anti-vaccine movement. It is now embraced by doctors at prestigious universities.
Science denial, overconfidence, and persuasion
The pandemic has brought scientists who have rejected science with respect to COVID-19 public health measures a disturbing level of influence. Recent research suggests reasons why and who among the public susceptible to such misinformation remains persuadable.
Zinc for the prevention or treatment of respiratory tract infections: A new systematic review
A new systematic review examines the evidence for zinc to prevent or treat respiratory tract infections.