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Antivaccine nonsense Biology Medicine Science

Toxins and and monkey DNA and SV40, oh my! COVID-19 vaccines vs. a zombie meme

Quack tycoon Joe Mercola resurrects an antivax trope about SV40 to repurpose it to attack COVID-19 vaccines.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Projection, thy name is Joe Mercola (and Aseem Malhotra)

In a classic case of projection, Joe Mercola claims a “pandemic of misinformed doctors.” He’s right, but not for the reason he thinks. The misinformed doctors are him and his fellow antivax docs.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Claiming the mantle of “reasonableness” by attacking even worse cranks

A couple of days ago, Joe Mercola tried to seem “reasonable” by contrasting himself to other quacks by “conceding” that SARS-CoV-2 actually exists. Last night Dr. Vinay Prasad tried to do the same thing by “analyzing” the appearances of conspiracy theorists on Joe Rogan’s show. The parallels are eerie.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

2021: The year the weaponization of VAERS went mainstream

Misuse of the VAERS database to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about vaccines has been a favorite technique of antivaxxers for decades. Unfortunately, 2021 was the year when this particular antivax trope was turbocharged. (Note: Orac will be taking a week off after this—see note in post.)

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Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine

Antivax quack tycoon Joe Mercola profits selling COVID-19 disinformation

Joe Mercola is a physician whose nearly quarter-century of promoting quackery and antivaccine misinformation has garnered him a net worth north of $100 million. It is therefore not surprising that in the age of the pandemic, he has pivoted to fatten his bottom line promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and the COVID vaccines.

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