Josh Rushing takes on antivaxer Del Bigtree on Fault Lines and does what needs to be done. Although the report is not without problems, Rushing pwns Bigtree most satisfyingly.
Category: Antivaccine nonsense
Autism biomed quackery on Facebook: Exposed by moles
Autism biomed quackery is unfortunately all too commonly inflicted upon autistic children. Fortunately, there are moles seeking to expose it.
False balance on vaccines in Portland, courtesy of KATU and Genevieve Reaume
False balance is the bane of a science communicator's existence. KATU's Genevieve Reaume provided false balance in abundance in a story about the measles outbreak and the antivaccine movement.
Richard Dawkins’ painfully simplistic take on measles among Orthodox Jews: “Religion poisons everything.”
Richard Dawkins saw the measles outbreaks among the Orthodox Jews of Brooklyn and Rockland County, and Tweeted, "Religion poisons everything." Unfortunately for him, it's way more complicated than that.
Oregon Republicans: Refusing to work until a pro-vaccine bill is shelved
In Oregon, Republicans refused to come back to a work until a bill eliminating nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates was tabled, and the Democrats caved. And you wonderments why I call the GOP the party of antivaxers?
Del Bigtree’s ICAN “questions” the studies used to license the MMR vaccine. Hilarity ensues.
With the current measles outbreaks in the US having, only a third of the way through 2019, surpassed the total number of cases seen in any year since measles was declared eradicated in 2000, thanks largely to pockets of unvaccinated children, you’d think that the antivaccine movement would be on the defensive. To some extent, it is, but as the number of measles cases climbs past 700 just since the beginning of the year, antivaxers are getting, if anything, more aggressive. They’re promoting legislation to make opting out of vaccine mandates easier, while trying to intimidate physicians, nurses, and advocates …
RFK Jr.: So antivaccine that even his family calls him out on it
RFK Jr. has been a frequent topic of this blog since 2005 because of his extreme antivaccine views. Now the Kennedy siblings have called him out for his antivax views, and it's true. Junior dishonors Robert F. Kennedy's legacy through his promotion of child-endangering antivaccine pseudoscience.
The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement intensifies
Violent rhetoric has always been part of the antivaccine movement.Leaders of the antivax movement, like Del Bigtree, use apocalyptic and violent rhetoric, and then deny that they've done so. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse, and I fear violence.
IonCleanse foot baths: The confluence of antivaccine nonsense and cancer quackery
Antivax and cancer quackery go together, unfortunately. Here, Orac describes yet another example of this, as the (Not-So)-Thinking Moms promote a fundraiser to pay for quackery, including IonCleanse footpaths, for a young woman with cancer.
Ginger Taylor, MS dubiously invokes “religious freedom” to argue against vaccination
On the eve of Easter and Passover, Ginger Taylor, MS (the MS is in Dunning-Kruger, apparently) tried to invoke several religions to argue for the right not to vaccinate on religious grounds. As usual, it did not go well.