Cranks love a heroic persecution narrative, and the climate science-denying right wing think tank American Institute of Economic Research (AIER) has a doozy: COVID-19 “anti-lockdown” cranks like Scott Atlas and those behind the Great Barrington Declaration are the new abolitionists! This is a page from the antivax playbook.
There’s a new quack in town. Dr. Carrie Madej is making waves with the message that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are “transhumanism.” Too bad she fails Biology 101 in her fevered ramblings.
Barbara Loe Fisher, never missing an opportunity to demonize vaccines, is using the COVID-19 outbreak to spread fear about all vaccines.
There is already widespread distrust of a COVID-19 vaccine, even before a vaccine is approved. Contrary to claims from antivaxxers, that doesn’t mean provaxxers are becoming antivax.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US, increasing concern has been expressed about the politicization of the CDC and FDA due to pressure from the Trump administration to downplay the severity of the pandemic and push out treatments and a vaccine as fast as possible, potentially at the expense of safety. This has led me to a disturbing question: Can I trust the CDC and FDA any more?
