Tag: COVID-19

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Antivaccine nonsense Religion

“Fetal cells” in COVID-19 vaccines…again

Antivax take on PER.C6 cells
Antivaxxers are at it again, trying to weaponize abortion and "fetal cells" against COVID-19 vaccines.

In the age of COVID, everything old is new again in antivax conspiracy world. This time around, antivaxxers are trying to claim (yet again) that COVID vaccines contain “fetal cells.” Once more into the breach.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Pseudoscience Quackery

Richard Moskowitz goes full COVID-19 conspiracy theorist for Age of Autism

Dr. Richard Moskowitz
There's nothing like being photographed in front of large shelves full of old textbooks and journals to make you look smart and academic.

Dr. Richard Moskowitz has been a quack MD and homeopath since the 1970s. It is thus unsurprising that he has now pivoted to COVID-19 conspiracy theories and disinformation.

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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”

How they view us
"They" (antivaxxers, antimaskers, cancer quacks, etc.) seem to view "us" (science communicators and skeptics) as Darth Vader, only without the redemption arc in Return of the Jedi.

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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Bad science Clinical trials Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery

Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 7: Are there positive studies that aren’t fraudulent?

Ivermectin propaganda
This is an example of propaganda that promotes ivermectin as a cure for COVID-19. (It's also being promoted for cancer.)

Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, a drug repurposed for COVID-19 that almost certainly doesn’t work but is still being touted as a “miracle cure” by quacks, grifters, and political ideologues. Are the data supporting it all fraudulent and/or biased? The answer, increasingly, appears to be yes.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Politics

The Great Barrington Declaration strikes back

Great Barrington Declaration authors Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta, and Jay Bhattacharya
Authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated a "natural herd immunity" approach to the pandemic in front of the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington. (Left to right: Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta, and Jay Bhattarcharya.)

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?