Tag: vaccines
Antivaxxers easily see through the misdirection of RFK Jr.’s MAHA
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been antivax for two decades. His fellow travelers are not happy about his leaving out vaccines in his "Make America Healthy Again." To them it's an obvious misdirection, and they are turning on him.
Antivax as ideology: “Limited hangouts” run by “controlled opposition”
Antivax is more ideology and conspiracy than science. The recent accusation that antivax influencers are running "limited hangouts" as part of "controlled opposition helps illustrate this characteristic, in which the insufficiently radical are portrayed as useful idiots for the enemy or even heretics.
RFK Jr.’s MAHA manifesto: How not to “make America healthy again”
Shortly after endorsing Donald Trump for President, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed he and Trump will "make America healthy again." His proposals to do that range from semi-reasonable to outright quackery.
Quoth Myrna Mantaring: “US government data” confirms a “143,233% increase in cancer cases due to COVID vaccination”? I answer with a plea for math-based reality checks.
Myrna Mattaring, a retired scientist who worked in diagnostic labs, claims that COVID-19 vaccines caused a 1432% increase in cancer cases, a clearly impossible claim. Here I make a plea for examining such claims, including a much more famous and accepted one, with basic math.
Stanford University will host a conference on pandemic planning featuring the usual (COVID-19) suspects
This week, Stanford University announced a conference on pandemic policy that features several of the usual suspects who spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Truly, Stanford has become the "respectable" academic face of efforts to undermine public health.
Dr. Vinay Prasad Opposed The Pediatric COVID Vaccine Before There Was A Pediatric COVID Vaccine
Dr. Vinay Prasad started treating vaccine side effects as a fate worse than death in January 2021, before there was a COVID vaccine for children.
How conspiracy theories like COVID-19 “lab leak” harm science and public health
Ever since COVID-19 first emerged in 2020, evidence-free claims that it had arisen due to a "lab leak" have proliferated. A recent paper argues that this conspiracy theory has been very harmful to science. I argue that it's more than just lab leak that is harmful.
As imperfect as they are, public health interventions save lives
On Friday, JAMA Health Forum published a study that is just more evidence that public health interventions against COVID-19 saved lives.
Dr. John Ioannidis: Yet Another Doctor Who Treats Theoretical Death From The Vaccine With More Gravity Than Actual Death From COVID
Actual death is worse than theoretical death. This didn't used to be controversial in medicine.
Aaron Siri vs. Stanley Plotkin on post-licensure safety monitoring of vaccines
Vaccine scientist Stanley Plotkin coauthored a commentary on vaccine postlicensure studies. Antivax lawyer Aaron Siri tries to spin it as an "admission" that vaccines aren't safe. Predictable.