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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Oregon Republicans: Refusing to work until a pro-vaccine bill is shelved

In Oregon, Republicans refused to come back to a work until a bill eliminating nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates was tabled, and the Democrats caved. And you wonderments why I call the GOP the party of antivaxers?

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Del Bigtree’s ICAN “questions” the studies used to license the MMR vaccine. Hilarity ensues.

With the current measles outbreaks in the US having, only a third of the way through 2019, surpassed the total number of cases seen in any year since measles was declared eradicated in 2000, thanks largely to pockets of unvaccinated children, you’d think that the antivaccine movement would be on the defensive. To some extent, […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement intensifies

Violent rhetoric has always been part of the antivaccine movement.Leaders of the antivax movement, like Del Bigtree, use apocalyptic and violent rhetoric, and then deny that they’ve done so. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse, and I fear violence.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

The GOP has become the party of antivaxers, 2019 edition

Antivaccine beliefs occur at the same prevalence on the left and right, only the GOP promotes policies to make opting out of vaccines easier. All over the country, Republican politicians are opposing making school vaccine mandates stricter, proposing laws to loosen vaccination requirements, and falling for antivaccine pseudoscience.

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Anti-Semitism Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science

Measles outbreaks among Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and Michigan: Compare and contrast

There’s an ongoing measles outbreak among the Orthodox Jewish community in southeast Michigan. The genesis of the outbreak is more complex than the usual “antivaxers did it” narrative, and this outbreak shows how we’re all interconnected.