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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Science

NIH grant funding decisions: Reality vs. antivax conspiracies

Earlier this month, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a plan to decrease the problem of reputational bias in grant funding. I couldn’t help but contrast how hard the NIH tries to use the most rigorous scientific criteria to decide whose grants to fund with the conspiracy theory that Anthony Fauci personally doles out NIH dollars like a mob boss to scientists who support him.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Gov. Ron DeSantis grants antivaxxers their wish, a mini-“Nuremberg 2.0”

Since long before the pandemic,antivaxxers have fantasized about Nuremberg-like tribunals (a “Nuremberg 2.0, if you will) to punish vaccine advocates. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now giving them their wish.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture

Antivax nonsense about “PureBloods” endangers the lives of children

The antivax idea of “purebloods” is back and endangering a child’s life. Same as it ever was, unfortunately.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience

To Nuremberg or not to Nuremberg? That is the antivax question.

Punishing public health officials for their “crimes” has long been an antivax fantasy. The Brownstone Institute has a question and can’t decide if it agrees, even as it echoes the same rhetoric.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Why is being an apostate such a big part of COVID-19 contrarian narratives?

There has long been a huge appeal in medicine that derives from being an “apostate”. Since COVID-19 hit, apostasy has become like a drug among too many doctors, and social media has amplified the popularity of “medical apostates” beyond anything I’ve seen previously.