Tag: vaccines
To unblind or not to unblind? That is the question about clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines
Antivaccine alternative health tycoon Joe Mercola claims that the unblinding of participants in the clinical trials of Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines was intended to "blow up the trials" and undermine the science, making it impossible ever to identify long term adverse events. What he's really doing is deceptively oversimplifying complex ethical and scientific issues surrounding these trials in the middle of...
Christian Elliot’s “18 Reasons I Won’t Be Getting a Covid Vaccine”: Viral antivaccine misinformation
Christian Elliot is a self-proclaimed "natural health nerd" and entrepreneur who recently published 18 reasons why he wouldn't take the COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, it's viral disinformation based on conspiracy theories, bad science, pseudoscience, and nonsense.
Countering Geert Vanden Bossche’s dubious viral open letter warning against mass COVID-19 vaccination
Geert Vanden Bossche is a scientist who published an open letter warning of global catastrophe due to deadly variants of COVID-19 selected for by mass vaccination. His argument sounds a lot like an argument Andrew Wakefield once made for MMR. There’s even grift likely involved!
The Brownstein protocol is not a proven treatment for COVID-19
Dr. David Brownstein is a "holistic" physician who practices in Dr. Gorski's neck of the woods. Unfortunately, he just wrote a book promoting an unproven protocol involving vitamins, nebulized hydrogen peroxide and iodine, and intravenous ozone to treat COVID-19. There is no evidence that his protocol works, other than a very poor quality case series.
Lipid nanoparticles in COVID-19 vaccines: The new mercury to antivaxxers
When it comes to antivaccine misinformation and the COVID-19 pandemic, everything old is new again, at least if you haven't been paying attention. This time around, it's the resurrection of an old favorite antivaccine trope, the "toxins" gambit. Truly, lipid nanoparticles are the new mercury.
Shameless self-promotion: Dr. Gorski on the Thinking Critically podcast
Dr. Gorski appeared on the Thinking Critically podcast to discuss the antivaccine movement, COVID-19, medical conspiracy theories, and his journey to skepticism.
The efforts of antivaxxers to portray COVID-19 vaccines as harmful or even deadly continue apace (VAERS edition)
With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continuing apace, so are the efforts of antivaxxers to portray the vaccines as dangerous. This time around, they've resurrected the old antivaccine trick of deceptively misusing the VAERS database to imply causation from VAERS reports. That's not how VAERS works, however.
It was inevitable that antivaxxers would claim that COVID-19 vaccines make females infertile
Antivaxxers have been claiming that vaccines cause female infertility for as long as I can remember. So it's not surprising that they are now claiming that COVID-19 vaccines will cause miscarriages or even make women infertile. Their assertion is based on a highly speculative and incredibly unlikely immunologic mechanism. Same as it ever was.
Responding to Dr. Vinay Prasad’s “dunking on a 7′ hoop” criticism of SBM
Last week, Dr. Vinay Prasad decided to resurrect his misguided criticism from over a year ago likening SBM-style criticisms of alternative medicine to "dunking on a 7' hoop". Why he would decide to renew his attack on combating science disinformation in the middle of a pandemic that has killed close to 300,000 Americans alone we don't know, but Drs. Novella and Gorski...
The Oregon Medical Board suspends the medical license of antivax pediatrician Dr. Paul Thomas
Late last week, the Oregon Medical Board suspended the licenses of two physicians, one for bragging about not wearing a mask around his patients, the second being Dr. Paul Thomas, an antivaccine pediatrician, whose continued practice was deemed a threat to his patients. It's time for more state medical boards to step up, as Oregon's has.