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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine

DMED: Another database abused by antivaxxers

Antivaxxers have found another health database to abuse, DMED, to falsely claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause all sorts of horrible things.

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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 Politics Popular culture

Antivaxxers vs. FDA’s VRBPAC and CDC’s ACIP.

The FDA’s VRBPAC and the CDC’s ACIP are the two committees that approve vaccines in the US and issue recommendations regarding who should receive which vaccine and when. Predictably, after the recent recommendation that children 5-11 receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is portraying committee members as thralls of big pharma.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Popular culture

Doctors who should know better dumpster dive in VAERS

“Dumpster diving” is a term used to describe studies using data from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System database by authors, almost always antivaxxers, who don’t understand its limitations. Last week, non-antivax doctors who should know better fell into this trap when they promoted their study suggesting that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are more dangerous to children than the disease.

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Bad science Medicine Politics Quackery

“America’s Frontline Doctors” sue over deaths from COVID-19 vaccines. Hilarity ensues.

This week, “America’s Frontline Doctors” (who are doctors, but hardly “frontline”) announced a lawsuit over 45,000 “covered up deaths” due to COVID-19 vaccines. Hilarity ensued, as the bad science and conspiracy theories were epic, as has been the grift.