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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Richard Jaffe brings the antivax legal assault on state medical boards to California

Cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski’s former lawyer Richard Jaffe is suing the Medical Board of California for disciplining Dr. Douglas Mackenzie for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The antivax assault on state medical boards with legal thuggery continues apace.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring: The J&J vaccine and blood clots

Yesterday, the FDA paused use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 due to a rare association with a very uncommon type of blood clot. Detecting one-in-a-million potential adverse events shows that our monitoring is working, but predictably antivaxxers are weaponizing this development to spread fear of COVID vaccines.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Ãœber-quack Joe Mercola falsely claims that “legally” the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are not vaccines

Antivaxxers have been falsely claiming that the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are “gene therapy,” not vaccines. Now über-quack Joe Mercola is falsely claiming that the vaccines are, from a legal standpoint, not vaccines.

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Antivaccine nonsense Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Monitoring COVID-19 vaccine safety during a pandemic

Last year, the Trump administration essentially disbanded the National Vaccine Program Office, folding it into an office focused on infectious diseases. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. What does this mean for monitoring the safety of the soon-to-be-approved COVID-19 vaccines?

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Clinical trials Medicine Politics Popular culture

Can we trust the CDC and FDA any more?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US, increasing concern has been expressed about the politicization of the CDC and FDA due to pressure from the Trump administration to downplay the severity of the pandemic and push out treatments and a vaccine as fast as possible, potentially at the expense of safety. This has led me to a disturbing question: Can I trust the CDC and FDA any more?