Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Homeopathy Medicine Quackery

Larry Cook: A time warp cornucopia of antivax quackery

Larry Cook is a longtime antivaxxer turned anti-COVID-19 vaccine. This month, he updated his “vaccine injury treatment guide.” It’s pure quackery. Same as it ever was.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Computers and social media Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

“Subscription science” and real conflicts of interest

Antivaccine activists and quacks often weaponize legitimate concerns about industry conflicts of interest in medicine into the “shill gambit,” in which they accuse critics and defenders of science-based medicine of being in the pay of big pharma. However, the rise of physician-influencers and, in particular, Subscription Substack show that not all conflicts of interest are from industry or even financial.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

“CDC whistleblower” conspiracy theory, resurrected by “new school” antivaxxers

In 2014, Andrew Wakefield unveiled Brian Hooker’s “CDC whistleblower” conspiracy theory featuring William Thompson, a CDC scientist who claimed that a vaccine-autism link was being covered up. Now, Steve Kirsch and other COVID-19 antivaxxers are resurrecting it.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Did “Died Suddenly” just die suddenly as a conspiracy theory?

“Died Suddenly” is a movie and a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 vaccines are causing young people to drop dead but “they” are trying to suppress the evidence. I guess a new study showing no correlation between COVID-19 vaccination and sudden death is just part of “Their” effort.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Neil deGrasse Tyson demonstrates why debating cranks is a horrible idea

Astrophysicist and famed science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson appeared on The Highwire, an antivax video podcast, to “debate” its host, antivax propagandist Del Bigtree. This incident demonstrates quite well why it is almost never a good idea for a scientist to agree to “debate” science deniers.