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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaccine organizations got $850,000 in COVID-19 bailout money from the Paycheck Protection Program

The Washington Post reported yesterday that antivaccine groups got $850,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program under the CARES Act. How could this happen?

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Skepticism/critical thinking

Nazis. With the Brownstone Institute it’s always Nazis.

The Brownstone Institute is once again promoting the tired narrative that public health interventions for COVID-19 are incipient fascism and those supporting them Nazis. Unfortunately, this false narrative resonates.

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Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine

Is “mRNA vaccine inventor” Robert Malone “being erased from Wikipedia” for his claims about COVID-19?

Robert Malone claims to be the “inventor of mRNA vaccines,.” Whether his claim is legitimate or not, his fans are editing Wikipedia, and he’s spreading COVID-19 misinformation of the worst kind.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

2021: The year the weaponization of VAERS went mainstream

Misuse of the VAERS database to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about vaccines has been a favorite technique of antivaxxers for decades. Unfortunately, 2021 was the year when this particular antivax trope was turbocharged. (Note: Orac will be taking a week off after this—see note in post.)

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Lipid nanoparticles: The antivax “toxins gambit” reborn for COVID-19 vaccines

Remember the “toxins gambit,” that antivaccine talking point falsely claiming that vaccines are loaded with “toxins”? It’s back for COVID-19 vaccines, and this time lipid nanoparticles are the new mercury and aluminum.