Tag: SARS-CoV-2

“Panel stacking”: John Ioannidis versus a Delphi consensus statement on COVID-19

My former science idol John Ioannidis has published a paper citing a Delphi consensus statement on COVID-19 as evidence that the scientific community is "biased" against his anti-"lockdown" pro-virus views. His descent continues apace.

/ June 24, 2024
WIV lab leak

The New York Times promotes “lab leak” conspiracy theories

Last week, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Alina Chan, Queen of lab leak conspiracy theories and then gave it a prominent place in its Sunday Magazine this weekend. How is it wrong? Let me count the ways.

/ June 10, 2024
Shedding vaccine COVID-19

Antivax quacks are continuing to make up fantastical biological mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccine “shedding”

A couple of weeks ago, I discussed why antivax quacks' claimed biological mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccine "shedding" reminded me of homeopaths. Confabulation about fantastical scientific mechanisms continues, courtesy of "A Midwestern Doctor."

/ January 29, 2024

Hospital Measures Prevented COVID Transmission

A new study finds that hospital measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 worked, and we probably should keep them.

/ January 17, 2024
Peter McCullough shilling for The Wellness Company

The Wellness Company: How antivaccine grift becomes plain old quackery

The Wellness Company, promoted by Dr. Peter McCullough, is the product of a trend in which antivax doctors have predictably become just quacks. At least in this case, there is an amusing quack fight at the heart of it all.

/ January 8, 2024
Frameshift mutation

Do mRNA vaccines produce harmful “junk proteins” that “gunk up” the cell and cause unintended “off-target” immune responses?

A new study is making the rounds in the antivax crankosphere. The study found that the modified mRNA used in the Pfizer vaccine can cause a frame shift (to be explained) that results in the production of proteins besides the intended spike protein. The findings are, as you probably guessed, a big nothingburger compared to how they are being spun.

/ December 11, 2023
Bacterial pneumonia

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.

/ September 4, 2023
ABIM Logo

The American Board of Internal Medicine finally acts against two misinformation-spreading doctors

Last week, I wrote about how COVID-19 has exposed the toothlessness of state medical boards. Last week, the American Board of Internal Medicine announced that it was going to permanently revoke the board certifications of two COVID-19 contrarian doctors, Drs. Paul Marik and Pierre Kory. Can medical specialty boards make up for the failure of state medical boards, at least partially?

/ August 7, 2023
Natto, from which nattokinase is extracted.

“Base Spike Detox” and Signature Spike Support Formulas: Nattokinase quackery to treat COVID-19 and COVID-19 “vaccine injury”

Dr. Peter McCullough and a number of "anti-COVID-19 vaccine" antivaxxers out there has pivoted to quackery to "detox" from the supposedly malign effects of COVID-19 vaccines. Everything old is new again, this time with nattokinase.

/ July 24, 2023

COVID Lab Leak Theory Rises Again

FBI Director supports the lab leak hypothesis, but there is no new evidence, and scientists still favor the spillover hypothesis.

/ March 1, 2023