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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

Antivaxxer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. writes to Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi about measles in the middle of an outbreak

As a deadly measles outbreak continued to kill children in Samoa, antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote to Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi. His deceptive pseudoscientific talking points became the template for antivaxers seeking to deflect blame from themselves.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine

Marysville High School has a chickenpox outbreak, and antivaxers don’t want their children kept home

Last week, there was a small chickenpox outbreak at a Marysville High School in my state. Unvaccinated students were sent home. Now antivaxers are protesting. Same as it ever was.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience

Oakland County, Michigan: Measles arrives close to home

Measles has arrived in the form of an outbreak on Oakland County, MI. That’s too close for comfort to Orac. Way, way too close for comfort.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for making measles great again.

It seems as though I have to write a post like this every year or two, as measles outbreaks keep raging and children keep getting sick and even dying. I feel obligated to “thank” the primary author of this misery, the man whose scientific fraud and other efforts have fueled antivaxers’ fear of the MMR vaccine. So thanks Andrew Wakefield. Thanks for the measles. Again. In 2018.

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Massive measles outbreak in Romania: A warning to the US?

Beginning a little over a year ago, Romania has been enduring a massive measles outbreak. The cause is familiar: Low MMR uptake below what is needed for herd immunity. Is this a warning to the US?