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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Quackery

Paul Thomas: An antivax pediatrician de-licensed (for now)

A week and a half ago, the Oregon Medical Board suspended the licenses of two physicians, one for bragging about not wearing a mask around his patients, the second being Dr. Paul Thomas, an antivaccine pediatrician, whose continued practice was deemed a threat to his patients. It’s time for more state medical boards to step up, as Oregon’s has.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

A Senate committee calls science denialist crank Dr. Jane Orient to testify on COVID-19 vaccines

Dr. Jane Orient is Executive Director of the antivax, COVID-19 minimizing, conspiracy mongering fake medical professional association Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Why has she been invited to testify before a Senate committee about COVID-19 vaccines?

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Politics Popular culture

Antivaxxers aren’t just antivaccine. They’re anti-public health.

Why have antivaxxers allied themselves with COVID-19 deniers? Simple. Both share an unrelenting hostility to public health interventions.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Science

It’s been a week since Joe Biden won. Now what for medical science policy?

In 2016 and 2020, scientists expressed surprise and alarm at the results of the Presidential election. In 2016 it was alarm that someone as antiscience as Donald Trump was elected, and in 2020 it was over how close the election was, given Trump’s dismal record on science, medicine, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Are scientists out of touch? And now what, for federal science policy and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

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Antivaccine nonsense Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Monitoring COVID-19 vaccine safety during a pandemic

Last year, the Trump administration essentially disbanded the National Vaccine Program Office, folding it into an office focused on infectious diseases. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. What does this mean for monitoring the safety of the soon-to-be-approved COVID-19 vaccines?