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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

Astroturf and think tanks manufacturing doubt about COVID-19 public health interventions

The embrace of antimask and antivaccine views by the right wing is due to more than just clever reaching out by antivaxxers. There’s a big money astroturf machine encompassing various “think tanks” behind it.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Politics Popular culture

After FDA approval of Comirnaty, antivaxxers claim it’s still “experimental”

On Monday the FDA granted full approval to Comirnaty, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. By Tuesday, antivaxxers had a propaganda line that the vaccine is still “experimental.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics

The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement, antimask COVID-19 update

I’ve long written about the violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement. In the age of COVID-19, it’s gotten much worse, and, increasingly, there has been actual violence. Someone’s going be killed, I fear.

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Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine, take 5: But it won the Nobel Prize!

Ivermectin continues to be the new hydroxychloroquine, an unproven repurposed drug promoted to treat COVID-19. Now the advocates are pointing to the history of the drug’s developers being awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine, as though that has anything to do with its effectiveness against COVID-19.

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Antivaccine nonsense Politics

Antivaxxers invoke segregation and Jim Crow to attack COVID-19 vaccination requirements

Before the pandemic, antivaxxers tried to don the mantle of the “new civil rights movement.” Now they’re invoking segregation and Jim Crow over COVID-19 vaccination requirements.