Tag: vaccines

Randomized controlled trial of homeopathic nosodes finds, not surprisingly, that they are useless

Magic sugar pills go head-to-head against actual vaccines in a randomized controlled trial. The results will not surprise you.

/ April 4, 2019

Shots Heard: When the antivaccine movement swarms and harasses on social media, what can we do?

Of late, antivaxers active on social media have been ramping up their attacks on their perceived enemies, up to and including attacking even mothers who have lost children to vaccine-preventable disease. A new study looks at the characteristics of this group, even as two doctors form a group to help those who are victims of antivaccine harassment on social media, Shots Heard...

/ March 25, 2019
Amazon Prime

Combatting dangerous quackery and antivaccine misinformation on streaming services and social media

Last week, Amazon began removing antivaccine videos from Amazon Prime. Last month, YouTube announced that it was demonetizing antivaccine videos, and Facebook stated that it would be taking action to de-emphasize antivaccine pages in its searched. These are all good first tentative steps, but the problem of quackery on streaming platforms and social media goes way beyond just antivaccine content. Making it...

/ March 4, 2019
Peter Gøtzsche

Peter Gøtzsche and antivaxers: Should a science advocate ever speak at an antivaccine conference?

Last week, I wrote about how evidence-based medicine icon Peter Gøtzsche was slated to speak at an antivaccine conference. This week, I now know why he agreed to appear. In part, he thought he could change antivaxer minds. This leads me to ask: Is it ever a good idea for a science advocate to speak at a pseudoscience conference?

/ February 25, 2019
PIC 2019

The strange saga of Peter Gøtzsche and Physicians for Informed Consent

Recently, it was noted that Peter Gøtzsche, formerly of Cochrane Nordic, was featured on the speaker list for an antivaccine quackfest organized by the antivaccine group Physicians for Informed Consent, along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Toni Bark, and Marry Holland. Two days later, he announced that he would not be speaking there. So what happened? And what is Physicians for Informed...

/ February 18, 2019

The benefits of the measles vaccine go beyond just protecting against measles, 2019 edition

It's indisputable that vaccines protect against specific infectious diseases. What's less well known is how a vaccine like the measles vaccine protects against more than just measles.

/ February 11, 2019

Antivaccine pseudoscience disguised as autism advocacy in the Minnesota legislature

Recently, Sen. Jim Abeler of Minnesota created the MN Autism Council, an advisory panel tasked with advising the legislature on autism policy. A closer look at the story reveals that Sen. Abeler is a chiropractor, two of the members are antivaxers, and one of them was a founding member tasked with forming the council. This is how antivaccine activism is disguised as...

/ January 28, 2019

WHO – Vaccine Hesitancy Top Health Threat

The World Health Organization recognizes that vaccine-hesitancy is a top threat to the public health. Now what are they going to do about it?

/ January 23, 2019

Addressing the epidemic of antivaccine misinformation

Last week, Dr. Gorski was on vacation. However, part of his vacation involved spending a couple of hours with two of his heroes, meeting new pro-science advocates, and talking vaccine hesitancy and the antivaccine movement.

/ December 3, 2018

Antivaccine propaganda from Dr. W. Gifford-Jones in The Toronto Sun

On Saturday, The Toronto Sun published a syndicated column by a pseudonymous Canadian doctor, Dr. W. Gifford-Jones. The column was packed with antivaccine misinformation and pseudoscience. Apparently due to complaints, the article was taken down sometime Sunday, but is still available on the websites of several other Canadian newspapers. Its misinformation is still there to frighten parents out of vaccinating.

/ October 29, 2018