Category: Antivaccine nonsense

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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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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?

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience

On “natural immunity” to COVID-19 (and every other vaccine-preventable disease)

Natural immunity
Antivaxxers claim that "natural immunity" is always better. It isn't necessarily so.

Antivaxxers have long appealed to “natural immunity” as being somehow inherently superior to vaccine-induced immunity, which is apparently “artificial”. This is a trope that comes from alternative medicine concepts about purity and contamination that is now endangering us in the age of the pandemic.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Politics Quackery

It’s always about the grift

Snake Oil and Grift
While it's true that many, if not most, snake oil salesmen believe in their quackery, it's also always about the grift.

Hawkers of ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and other “miracle cures” for COVID-19 are just like snake oil salesmen going back to time immemorial. Sure, many, if not most, of them believe in their quackery, but it’s also always about the grift.