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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine

“Adulteration”: The latest iteration of the antivax “toxins gambit” applied to COVID-19 vaccines

The latest antivax line is that trace amounts of residual plasmid DNA fragments constitutes “adulteration.” It’s just the “toxins gambit” twisted into a bad legal argument.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Bill Ackman is shocked that people think he’s antivax

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wonders why people are calling him antivax. All he did was to defend RFK Jr. and amplify old antivax tropes on Twitter.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

2021: The year the weaponization of VAERS went mainstream

Misuse of the VAERS database to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about vaccines has been a favorite technique of antivaxxers for decades. Unfortunately, 2021 was the year when this particular antivax trope was turbocharged. (Note: Orac will be taking a week off after this—see note in post.)

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

RFK Jr. is hosting a veritable antivax Quackapalooza

RFK Jr. will hold a “healthcare policy roundtable” next week. One look at its list of “experts” shows that it will be a Quackapalooza of antivax misinformation. Unfortunately, RFK Jr.’s candidacy is normalizing old long debunked antivax tropes.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

“Innovation.” You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Quacks delude themselves that they are brave mavericks who are being persecuted for “innovation.” That’s why they attack scientific authority that tells them they are quacks and cranks as “corrupt” and “unimaginative.”