Category: Science

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Antivaccine nonsense Cancer Medicine Science

Forget the antivax lie of “turbo cancer.” Does COVID-19 cause cancer?

A cancer cell
A cancer cell.

The Washington Post recently published an article asking if COVID-19 infection can cause cancer. Probably not, but cancer caused by a virus is more more plausible than “turbo cancer” caused by the vaccine.

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Antivaccine nonsense Biology Cancer Medicine Science

Return of the revenge of “vaccines permanently alter your DNA”

Plasmid DNA
A typical plasmid.

In a new twist on the “vaccines permanently alter your DNA” trope that antivaxxers love, a microbiologist named Kevin McKernan is falsely claiming that contaminating plasmid DNA from COVID-19 vaccines can get into the nucleus during cell division and “permanently alter your DNA” to horrible effect.

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Antivaccine nonsense Biology Medicine Science

Toxins and and monkey DNA and SV40, oh my! COVID-19 vaccines vs. a zombie meme

SV40: The Return of the Living Dead
SV40 is back from the grave and ready to party!

Quack tycoon Joe Mercola resurrects an antivax trope about SV40 to repurpose it to attack COVID-19 vaccines.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Science

Variability ≠ “We don’t know” how COVID vaccines work

Variability of spike protein expression

A study that shows cell type-dependent variability of spike protein production by COVID-19 vaccines leads an antivaxxer to say how little we know about the vaccines.

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Antivaccine nonsense Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaxxers attack scientific consensus as a “manufactured construct”

Is it ever justified to doubt a scientific consensus?
Is it ever justified to doubt a scientific consensus? Sure, but if you're going to do so, you'd better have damned good evidence and reasons, which science deniers pretty much never have.

Neil deGrasse Tyson invoked the concept of a scientific consensus while supporting vaccines in his debate with Del Bigtree. Why was his statement about how “individual scientists don’t matter” compared to scientific consensus so triggering to antivaxxers? Why do antivaxxers reject the very concept of a scientific consensus and promote a hyper-individualistic view of how science should be conducted?