Categories
Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Quackery

Did hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) really kill 17,000 COVID-19 patients?

A recent study concludes that the rampant use of HCQ early in the pandemic could have resulted in 17,000 excess deaths. But did HCQ really do that? Possibly, but it’s complicated.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

RFK Jr. is hosting a veritable antivax Quackapalooza

RFK Jr. will hold a “healthcare policy roundtable” next week. One look at its list of “experts” shows that it will be a Quackapalooza of antivax misinformation. Unfortunately, RFK Jr.’s candidacy is normalizing old long debunked antivax tropes.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Quackery

Ivermectin goes from being the new hydroxychloroquine to being the new MMS

A recent VICE story described a Telegram channel devoted to promoting veterinary ivermectin to treat autism. It has echoes of autism quackery going back at least to the use of MMS (a kind of bleach) to “cure” autism by eliminating “parasites.”

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Quackery

It’s still always about the grift—and the grifters

Early in the pandemic, America’s Frontline Doctors made a splash promoting hydroxychloroquine. They then turned to running an ivermectin prescription mill. Now they’re suing each other. It’s always about the grift.

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Mikki Willis has expanded from Plandemic to ivermectin conspiracy theories

Mikki Willis of “Plandemic” fame is back, and this time he’s flogging conspiracy theories about ivermectin as a “suppressed” cure for COVID-19.