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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Politics

The Great Barrington Declaration strikes back

A month after a BMJ article linking the Great Barrington Declaration to the right wing think tank AIER, the two are attacking the authors of the BMJ piece and denying any payment or even connection. Why?

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Bad science Clinical trials Medicine

Ecological fallacy: When a scientist (inadvertently, I hope) uses a favorite antivax form of study

A longtime favorite technique of antivaxxers has been to do bad ecological studies to imply that vaccines cause harm. Why is a Harvard investigator inadvertently using the ecological fallacy the same way antivaxxers used to do before COVID-19?

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience

On “natural immunity” to COVID-19 (and every other vaccine-preventable disease)

Antivaxxers have long appealed to “natural immunity” as being somehow inherently superior to vaccine-induced immunity, which is apparently “artificial”. This is a trope that comes from alternative medicine concepts about purity and contamination that is now endangering us in the age of the pandemic.

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Autism Bad science Bioethics Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Quackademic medicine at the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures: Stem cells for autism

Stem cells are an unproven therapy for autism, but that isn’t stopping Duke University’s Marcus Center for Cellular Cures from teaming with a for-profit stem cell company to market this quackery for big bucks.

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Bad science Medicine Politics Quackery

Reining in doctors promoting COVID-19 misinformation

The disinformation epidemic about COVID-19 has pushed state medical boards to consider disciplining physicians who promote COVID-19 disinformation. How would that work? What are the obstacles? Is it even possible? It should be, but it will be messy and complicated.