It was 25 years ago last week that Andrew Wakefield launched the modern iteration of the antivaccine movement.In doing so, he laid down a template that antivax quacks today still follow.
Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.
That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)
DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.
To contact Orac: [email protected]
It was 25 years ago last week that Andrew Wakefield launched the modern iteration of the antivaccine movement.In doing so, he laid down a template that antivax quacks today still follow.
A story is told in “The New Republic” about a certain entity that readers here might know well, at least longtime regulars.
Gabrielle Bauer of the Brownstone Institute tacitly admits that the central premise of the Great Barrington Declaration was badly wrong, but brushes it off a just “details.”
The latest big thing among all the hippest COVID-19 quacks and antivaxxers is nattokinase, which is claimed to bust clots and “detox” spike protein.
Since COVID-19, in the antivax world everything old is new again. That’s right, Gary S. Goldman and Neil Z. Miller are back to defend their 2011 infant mortality “study” and RFK Jr. is flogging it as slam-dunk “evidence” that vaccines kill babies.