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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Popular culture Science Skepticism/critical thinking

NIH funding lies weaponized as disinformation

It’s depressing to see formerly respected academics spread lies about the NIH funding process in order to undermine trust in COVID-19 public health science.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience

No one should be surprised at the number of antivax doctors in a new survey

A recent survey suggests that a disturbingly high percentage of physicians are either vaccine hesitant or actually antivaccine. Those of us who have been writing about the antivaccine movement know that this is not new, but it seems new to our colleagues who weren’t paying attention before the pandemic.

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Medicine Politics Popular culture Quackery

What do Tucker Carlson, testicular tanning, and fascism have in common?

Last week, Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson ran a trailer for The End of Men, a special claiming that men are getting weak due to low testosterone levels. It’s pure fascist worship of “masculinity” combined with “bromeopathy.”

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Bad science Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Popular culture

These days, ivermectin reminds me of acupuncture

As high-quality evidence increasingly and resoundingly shows that ivermectin does not work against COVID-19, advocates are doing what acupuncture advocates do: Turning to lower quality “positive” studies to claim incorrectly that their favorite ineffective treatment actually does “work.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture

Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff want to hold “lockdowners” accountable

Great Barrington Declaration author Dr. Jay Bhattacharya claimed that the pandemic was over and “regular people” will hold “them” accountable, while coauthor Martin Kulldorff Tweeted an article with an image of a guillotine. Do they know that calls for “justice” like this echo an old and very dark antivax fantasy?