Tag: Vinay Prasad
Sensible Medicine: Medical Misinformation and Medical Groupthink From the Medical Establishment
We all have biases, including in-group loyalty. It's often easy to see such bias in others, though nearly impossible to see in oneself. As such, it's both normal and dangerous to imagine that only those who disagree with you are vulnerable to groupthink, while you are perfect beacon of independent, rational thought- along with everyone who agrees with you.
RFK Jr.: A fart-filled argument gives way to an antisemitic conspiracy theory that COVID-19 is an “ethnically targeted” bioweapon
Last week, RFK Jr. endured hilariously bad press about an NYC press event at which two of his supporters argued over climate change, one with lots of farts. However, the fart jokes soon gave way to darker side of the event, a Q&A in which RFK Jr. shared an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that COVID-19 might have been "targeted" against Caucasians and...
RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan: Putting the old denialist technique of bad faith “Debate me, bro!” challenges on steroids
Joe Rogan conveyed a challenge by antivax crank turned Presidential candidate RFK Jr. to vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez to "debate me, bro!" In the week since, wealthy right wingers have added money to the inducement, and through an awful op-ed by Ross Douthat this weekend, even the New York Times has amped up the pressure for a "debate" about vaccines with...
Evidence-based medicine vs. basic science in medical school
Last week Dr. Vinay Prasad wrote a Substack arguing that medical students should learn the principles of evidence-based medicine before basic science.This is a recipe for amplifying the main flaw in EBM that science-based medicine was meant to correct, and Dr. Prasad's arguments would have been right at home on an integrative medicine blog. [Note ADDENDUM.]
The Cochrane mask fiasco: How the evidence-based medicine paradigm can produce misleading results
Last week, the Cochrane Collaborative was forced to walk back the conclusions of a review by Tom Jefferson et al that had been spun in the media as proving that "masks don't work." Tom Jefferson himself has been problematic about vaccines for a long time, but the rot goes deeper. What is it about the evidence-based medicine paradigm that results in misleading...
Are Vaccine-Advocates “Idiots”, Indifferent to the Death of a Mentally Ill Woman and Her Family?
Rather than face the real-world consequences of their anti-vaccine advocacy, it's easier for contrarian doctors to fantasize that COVID's youngest victims were mere figments of our imagination.
COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children, but that doesn’t stop some of my colleagues from arguing against vaccinating them
Contrary to what the "COVID-19 isn't a threat to children" contingent says, COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children. Yet "not antivax" doctors continue, either unknowingly or knowingly, recycle old antivax tropes to argue against vaccinating children against this disease.
Medical Conservatives: A High Rate of COVID-Myocarditis is “Good News”, A Low Rate of Vaccine-Myocarditis is “Deeply Concerning”
Doctors who repeatedly and blatantly contradict themselves, convincing parents that rare vaccine side effects are a fate worse than death, don't deserve our trust.
Should We Accept Unvaccinated Children Dying of COVID as a “Matter of Course”?
The same doctors who scold us for potentially minimizing "slightest bit of inflammation in the heart" when the vaccine is to blame, shame us for trying to keep children from dying when the virus is to blame.
Is the Pediatric COVID Vaccine in Competition with Routine Vaccinations?
Of course not. The sad state of Florida shows us why.