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Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine Politics Popular culture

Are Russian bots being used to sow division over vaccines? Maybe.

A study released yesterday has led to numerous breathless headlines in the media about Russian bots on Twitter sowing discord about vaccines by spreading polarized antivaccine and provaccine messages. The stories imply that this is a huge problem. But is it? There’s no doubt that this study showed some Russian bots Tweeting polarized messages about vaccines, but, contrary to the news stories, it doesn’t support the concept of a widespread Russian effort to stoke conflict about vaccines. It’s unclear whether the Russian effort was opportunistic or experimental, but it wasn’t huge.

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Bad science Medicine Popular culture Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

60 MINUTES Australia broadcasts an infomercial for Bioss Stem Cells, a quack clinic in Mexico

Last Sunday, 60 MINUTES Australia broadcast a story about a very sympathetic girl with cerebral palsy and her family, who traveled to Bioss Stem Cells, a stem cell clinic in Monterrey, Mexico, for unproven “stem cell” treatments. The story was nearly completely devoid of skepticism and played, in essence, as a 20 minute advertisement for quacks. It is one of the worst examples of boosterism and false balance about unproven treatments I’ve ever seen.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Popular culture Science

Maternal Tdap vaccination during pregnancy is not associated with autism in the child

In this edition of antivaccine Whac-A-Mole, Orac discusses a large study that fails to find a link between maternal Tdap vaccination and autism in the baby. No big surprise there. So, mothers, get your Tdap to protect your baby.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience

Is the misrepresentation of scientific findings by antivaxers leading to self-censorship by scientists?

Melinda Wenner Moyer published an article in The New York Times arguing that fear of how antivaxers will react to scientific findings is leading scientists to indulge in self-censorship. I’m not convinced that this is the case.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Shannon Kroner invited me to a panel discussion on vaccines. Don’t fall for a trap like this.

A clinical psychologist named Shannon Kroner invited Orac’s alter-ego to a “panel discussion” on vaccines. Let’s just say Orac knows a trap when he sees one and didn’t fall for this one. However, he thought it wise to write this post to warn other science advocates about traps for the unwary—like this one. Heed Orac’s advice!