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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Television

Alec Baldwin lets his antivaccine freak flag fly by interviewing RFK Jr.

Yesterday, celebrity Alec Baldwin let his antivaccine freak flag fly by interviewing antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Instagram Live, spreading disinformation about vaccines and COVID-19.

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Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

Hydroxychloroquine: The Black Knight of treatments for COVID-19

Truly, hydroxychloroquine is the Black Knight of treatments for COVID-19. “America’s Frontline Doctors” demonstrated this for me conclusively.

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Medicine Politics Popular culture Science

COVID-19 and “super-spreaders”

Evidence is emerging suggesting that COVID-19 does not spread equally. A minority of infected individuals seem to spread the virus easily to many people, while most infected individuals spread it to few others or no one at all, likely through a combination of circumstance, environment, and possibly biology. Why is this, and what does it mean for coronavirus containment strategies?

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Clinical trials Medicine Politics Popular culture

Yale epidemiologist Harvey Risch defends hydroxychloroquine in Newsweek—badly

Yale epidemiology professor Harvey Risch published an embarrassingly bad op-ed in Newsweek defending hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. It reminded me how much acupuncture and hydroxychloroquine believers have in common.

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Medicine Popular culture Science Skepticism/critical thinking

“COVID parties”: Almost certainly an urban legend

There have been stories of “COVID parties,” where young people intentionally try to catch COVID-19. They are almost certainly urban legends.