Tech bro turned antivaxxer Steve Kirsch recently suffered a devastating subretinal hemorrhage. While I hope he recovers his vision, antivaxxers are being antivaxxers and blaming his vision loss on vaccines.
Author: Orac
Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.
That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)
DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.
To contact Orac: [email protected]
Vaccine scientist Stanley Plotkin coauthored a commentary on vaccine postlicensure studies. Antivax lawyer Aaron Siri tries to misrepresent it as an “admission” that vaccines aren’t safe. Predictable.
Steve Kirsch got his hands on COVID-19 vaccination data from the Czech Republic, and bad data analysis ensues. This time, he’s falsely claiming that Moderna vaccines are deadlier than Pfizer vaccines, but that both are deadly.
Donald Trump called Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to try to gain his support. During the call, he repeated antivax tropes that he’s been repeating since 2007. A second Trump administration would be a public health disaster.
Access Consciousness claims to show how to improve your mental and physical health by touching 32 Access Bars on your scalp. It’s basically phrenology reborn and fused with “energy medicine.”