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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine

Study laundering: Retracted antivax studies resurrected in fake journals

Antivaxxers don’t like it when one of their crappy studies that they somehow managed to sneak into a decent peer-reviewed journal is deservedly retracted, as happened to Mark Skidmore’s paper that estimated that 278K people might have died from COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately for Skidmore and others, there exist fake journals that will launder their study by republishing it so that antivaxxers can continue to claim the work has been published in a “peer-reviewed journal.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine

Just in time for Halloween, Mark Skidmore’s zombie antivax pseudoscience rises again

Tech bro turned antivax influencer Steve Kirsch is claiming that Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore has been “exonerated” after having had a paper retracted claiming 278K deaths from COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 alone. In reality, Skidmore’s paper is zombie pseudoscience that’s back from the grave.

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Antivaccine nonsense Cancer Medicine

An antivaxxer interviews a respected oncologist about “turbo cancer”

Once again, Orac is depressed to discover that an oncologist and scientist whom he admired 30 years ago is now giving credence to the antivax myth that COVID-19 vaccines are causing an epidemic of “turbo cancer.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture

Powerful people like Rep. Jim Jordan are promoting health misinformation

Misinformation and conspiracy theories about health had long been a growing problem before the pandemic, but it took COVID-19 to get the government and researchers to take it seriously. Now, a new report in The Washington Post adds to previous reporting from multiple sources describing how allies of misinformation—and not just health misinformation—are striking back under the guise of defending “free speech.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Dr. Vinay Prasad embraces antivax “do not comply” messaging

COVID-19 “contrarians” like Dr. Vinay Prasad have long complained about being labelled “antivaccine,” which they view as unfair. Why, then, do they embrace antivax messages like “do not comply,” even if they don’t use the exact words?