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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

Quoth the antivaxer: “Vaccination is a religion.” Quoth Orac: “Nice projection, there.”

Levi Quackenboss is one of the more oblivious and obtuse antivaxers out there. She demonstrates this again with a clumsy post comparing vaccination to religion.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Pseudoscience Quackery

The Nobel Disease strikes again: Luc Montagnier goes full antivax, with a little help from Henri Joyeux

“Nobel disease” is a term designed to describe whatever it is that drives some Nobel laureates to embrace pseudoscience or quackery later in their careers. One of its most prominent victims, Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, recently demonstrated that he’s still suffering from Nobel disease when he laid down a barrage of antivaccine pseudoscience in Paris earlier this month.

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Antivaccine nonsense Homeopathy Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Dr. David Brownstein fought Shingrix, and Shingrix won

Dr. David Brownstein is a “holistic” family practice physician in my area. Consistent with being “holistic,” he is antivaccine to the core. That’s why he’s unhappy with the recent CDC recommendation that adults over 50 receive the new shingles vaccine. He thinks he’s found a clever argument to show it doesn’t work. Unfortunately, his argument only reveals his bias and misunderstanding.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaxers on Twitter: Fake news and Twitter bots

A new analysis reveals that there are antivaccine bots on Twitter. Why am I not surprised?

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Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Medicine

Does the flu vaccine cause miscarriages?

A recent study claims to have found a link between influenza vaccination and miscarriage, and antivaxers are rejoicing. The study itself suffers mightily from post hoc subgroup analyses and small numbers in the subgroup, so much so that even its authors don’t really believe its results.