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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Lipid nanoparticles: The antivax “toxins gambit” reborn for COVID-19 vaccines

Remember the “toxins gambit,” that antivaccine talking point falsely claiming that vaccines are loaded with “toxins”? It’s back for COVID-19 vaccines, and this time lipid nanoparticles are the new mercury and aluminum.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science

Do COVID-19 vaccines cause heart attacks and cardiac death?

A week ago, I wrote about how antivaxxers had resurrected an old trick to weaponize the VAERS vaccine safety database to demonize COVID-19 vaccines. They’re still at it, this time trying to blame the vaccine for heart attacks and cardiac deaths.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Skepticism/critical thinking

Grifters gonna grift: Cancer quacks Ty and Charlene Bollinger pivot to antivaccine and “Stop the Steal” conspiracies

Ty Bollinger and his wife Charlene were noted for their promotion of cancer quackery. Now they’ve pivoted to antivaccine and COVID-19 quackery plus “Stop the Steal” conspiracy theories because grifters gonna grift. Always.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Misuse of the VAERS database: An old antivax deception repackaged to spread fear of COVID-19 vaccines

With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continuing apace, so are the efforts of antivaxxers to portray the vaccines as dangerous. This time around, they’ve resurrected the old antivaccine trick of deceptively misusing the VAERS database to imply causation from VAERS reports. That’s not how VAERS works, however.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Computers and social media Medicine

Dr. Hooman Noorchashm and #ScreenB4Vaccine, revisited

I recently criticized Dr. Hooman Noorchashm’s warning about COVID-19 vaccines to #ScreenB4Vaccine. Amazingly, the kerfuffle is still going on a week later. Here I will explain why his hypothesis is, from a basic science standpoint, not very plausible and not supported by epidemiology.