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Bad science Bioethics Clinical trials Medicine Quackery

Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 4: Fraud, incompetence, or both?

Ivermectin has been hyped without good evidence as a highly effective treatment for COVID-19. Yesterday it was reported that the main study that has driven positive meta-analyses was either fraudulent or so incompetent as to be meaningless. Bottom line: Ivermectin almost certainly doesn’t work.

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Computers and social media Medicine Politics Popular culture

Attacks on scientists in the age of COVID-19: How “they” view “us”

Nature recently published a survey showing how common online and other attacks on scientists trying to communicate science-based information are. The hatred is nothing new. What’s new are COVID-19 and social media.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine

The latest antivax lie from Peter McCullough, Mike Adams, and RFK Jr.: “COVID-19 vaccines are killing people!!!!”

The latest antivaccine disinformation, spread by Peter McCullough, Mike Adams, and RFK Jr., consists of pointing to the large numbers of reports of death (and other adverse events) to the VAERS database. It’s an old antivax deception.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The FSMB against physicians promoting COVID-19 misinformation

The Federation of State Medical Boards issued a statement that doctors spreading COVID-19 misinformation should be disciplined. It’s toothless, of course, as evidenced by the rarity of a state medical board taking action against such doctors.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Dr. David Brownstein strikes again peddling quackery for COVID-19

Dr. David Brownstein is a “holistic” physician who practices in Orac’s neck of the woods. Unfortunately, he just wrote a book promoting an unproven protocol involving vitamins, nebulized hydrogen peroxide and iodine, and intravenous ozone to treat COVID-19. There is no evidence that his protocol works, other than a very poor quality case series.