Tag: The Brady Bunch

The measles vaccine protects against more than just the measles

One of the disadvantages of writing for this blog is that sometimes I feel as though I spend so much time deconstructing bad science and pseudoscience in medicine that I’m rarely left with the time or the opportunity to discuss some interesting science. Of course, even when I do that, usually it’s in the context of that very same bad science or...

/ May 11, 2015

The Disneyland measles outbreak: “Dr. Bob” Sears says measles isn’t that bad, and an antivaccine activist invokes the Brady Bunch fallacy

One argument antivaxers frequently make about the measles is that it's not dangerous. As "evidence" of this contention, they will often cite examples of sitcoms and cartoons from a half a century ago or more when measles was played for laughs. This is a fallacious argument, and there was a profound disconnect between the popular perception of measles and its reality.

/ January 19, 2015