A week ago, the World Health Organization held the First WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit this weekend. Unfortunately, its claims of being “evidence-based” aside, the conference followed the WHO’s usual pattern of serving as one-sided propaganda.
A week and a half ago the Biden administration officially declared monkeypox to be a national public health emergency. Unsurprisingly, conspiracy theories abound, many of them recycled from COVID-19 and older antivax conspiracy theories.
Last week, 239 scientists in 32 countries published an open letter to the WHO arguing that airborne transmission of COVID-19 occurs and urging it to change its recommendations. What is behind this controversy?
Yesterday, the World Health Organization walked back its statement that asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is “very rare.” This was after COVID-19 deniers had had a field day using that statement to attack social distancing, contact tracing, and mask wearing. It was a science communication disaster.
A story claiming that the WHO just said that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients don’t transmit coronavirus. Spoilers: It didn’t. However, the WHO’s message added unnecessary confusion and led COVID-19 deniers to say masks and social distancing are not necessary.
