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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery

Dr. Jay Gordon and Bill Maher: Still spreading antivaccine misinformation to the masses

A week and a half ago, an old “friend” of the blog, pediatrician and antivaccine apologist Dr. Jay Gordon, made an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher. In a long segment, the antivaccine misinformation flowed fast and furious in a Gish gallop of pseudoscience. WTF, HBO?

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine

Molecular mimicry: The new old antivaccine abuse of science

Antivaxers are nothing if not persistent and sometimes creative abusing science. This time it’s molecular mimicry, because of course it is. Anything to blame vaccines for autoimmune disease!

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Harlem Vaccine Forum: RFK Jr.’s fiasco of an attempt to court African-Americans

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. reached out to the African-American Community in Harlem with his antivaccine message. It didn’t go so well. First, Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Committee was going to host it, bailed due to negative publicity. Then RFK Jr. was kicked out of his venue during his speech because the event went way over time. RFK Jr.’s efforts do, however, show how white antivaxers are a danger to African-Americans and other minority communities through their active, albeit hamfisted, attempts to promote antivaccine misinformation to them.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

An attempt to “Null”-ify Wikipedia on science

Love it or hate it, Wikipedia is a main go-to rough and ready source of information for millions of people. Although I’ve had my problems with Wikipedia and used to ask whether it could provide reliable information on medicine and, in particular, alternative medicine and vaccines, given that anyone can edit it, I now conclude that Wikipedia must be doing OK, at least in these areas. After all, some of the highest profile promoters of alternative and “integrative” medicine hate Wikipedia, to the point of attacking it and concocting conspiracy theories about it.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Science

Corvelva and “Vaccinegate”: Italian antivaxers produce a dubious “scientific report” on fetal DNA in vaccines

The Italian antivaccine group Corvelva published a really bad “scientific report” claiming fetal DNA in vaccines is dangerous based on a dubious next generation sequencing analysis whose methods are not described. It’s not. To believe its claims, you have to believe that DNA can do anything.