Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Politics Popular culture

Dr. Joseph Ladapo’s antivax assault on public health: Will it infect the federal government?

Dr. Joseph Ladapo’s Florida Department of Health recently released guidance on COVID vaccines based on antivax tropes. Could they metastasize to the federal government if Donald Trump wins in November?

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Politics Quackery

“MAHA”? Antivax conspiracy monger RFK Jr. is not the one to “make America healthy again”

Shortly after endorsing Donald Trump for President, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed he and Trump will “make America healthy again.” His proposals to do that range from semi-reasonable to outright quackery.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Stanford University promotes disastrous “natural herd immunity” approaches to the pandemic

A week and a half ago, Stanford University announced a conference on pandemic policy that features several of the usual suspects who spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Truly, Stanford has become the “respectable” academic face of efforts to undermine public health.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Politics

RFK Jr. suspends his campaign and backs Donald Trump. Quelle surprise.

Yesterday, antivaxxer turned independent Presidential candidate RFK Jr, suspended his campaign and backed Donald Trump, to the surprise of no one. Almost certainly, there was a quid pro quo.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Politics Popular culture

“Lab leak” is now very much like antivax in its harms to public health

Ever since COVID-19 first emerged in 2020, evidence-free claims that it had arisen due to a “lab leak” have proliferated and caused as much harm as antivax. A recent paper argues that this conspiracy theory has been very harmful to science. I argue that it’s more than just lab leak that is harmful.