Tag: SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19 denial and antivaxxers

The confluence of antivaccine beliefs and conspiracy theories in COVID-19 denial

It surprised some people that after the COVID-19 pandemic hit our shores antivaxxers so quickly joined forces with COVID-19 conspiracy theorists. It shouldn't have been a surprise. Antivaxxer beliefs are themselves rooted deep in conspiracy theories.

/ September 28, 2020
Mercola versus flu vaccines and COVID-19

Joe Mercola: Falsely demonizing the flu vaccine by claiming it increases your risk of COVID-19

September is the time of the year when the CDC, state public health authorities, and doctors urge everyone to be vaccinated against the flu. In the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, that means antivaxxers like Joe Mercola have a new angle to demonize the flu vaccine: Falsely claiming it increases your risk of catching COVID-19.

/ September 21, 2020

Don’t use a COVID-19 vaccine, cry the antivaxxers, because of the horseshoe crab!

Antivaxxers are now urging vegans not to use a COVID-19 vaccine because blood from horseshoe crabs will be used in its manufacture. At its heart, this is no different than their weaponization of beliefs against other vaccine ingredients, except that it does use a germ of a good point that we should be looking for other ways to ensure that vaccines have...

/ September 7, 2020

Does convalescent plasma work against COVID-19? Who knows?

Last night, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, even though there are no randomized clinical trials demonstrating efficacy and safety. Does this plasma work? Who knows? But that didn't stop the FDA from issuing the EUA, almost certainly as a result of intense political pressure from the Trump Administration.

/ August 24, 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Schematic

Dexamethasone and Hydroxychloroquine: Why Randomized Controlled Trials Matter

What does the best evidence tell us about hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone?

/ August 20, 2020

HCQTrial.com: Astroturf and disinformation about hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19 on steroids

Late last week, a "study" published on HCQTrial.com by an anonymous source claiming to be a group of PhD scientists went viral. It claimed that countries that used hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 had a 79% lower fatality rate than those who didn't. It was horrible science and quickly debunked on Twitter by several epidemiologists. That didn't stop it from going viral. Disinformation...

/ August 10, 2020

The perils and pitfalls of “doing your own research” about COVID-19 (or any other science)

Ethan Siegel at Forbes argues that you "must not 'do your own research.'" While the title grates, Siegel is correct that most of us are not really capable of "doing our own research" about most scientific and medical questions because we lack the necessary background. We must therefore be humble and be very, very careful about "doing our own research."

/ August 3, 2020
Hydroxychloroquine

Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19: Evidence can’t seem to kill it

Despite the accumulating negative evidence showing that hydroxychloroquine doesn't work against COVID-19, activists continue to promote it as a way out of the pandemic. This week, the AAPS and a Yale epidemiologist joined the fray with embarrassingly bad arguments.

/ July 27, 2020

Emerging Evidence of Intrauterine SARS-CoV-2 Infections

New evidence supports the potential for intrauterine spread of SARS-CoV-2 to a developing fetus. It's uncommon, but something to take seriously. Also some good news from the AAP regarding the care of babies born to mothers with COVID-19!

/ July 24, 2020
COVID-19

COVID-19 “super-spreaders” and “super-spreading events”: The controversy

Evidence is emerging suggesting that COVID-19 does not spread equally. A minority of infected individuals seem to spread the virus easily to many people, while most infected individuals spread it to few others or no one at all, likely through a combination of circumstance, environment, and possibly biology. Why is this, and what does it mean for coronavirus containment strategies?

/ July 20, 2020