Tag: pandemic

Dr. Lucy McBride: “As physicians, dispensing false hope is dangerous & unethical.”

The many sheltered physicians like Dr. Lucy McBride who confidently said herd immunity was at hand and fear of COVID was pathological are the last people who should be sanctimoniously sermonizing about the importance of trust in medicine.

/ January 12, 2024
Steve Kirsch ad

Steve Kirsch’s “mother of all revelations” about the “deadliness” of COVID-19 vaccines goes poof

On Thursday, Steve Kirsch gave his long-hyped talk about "record-level data" from New Zealand that supposedly demonstrates that COVID-19 vaccines have killed more than 10 million people worldwide. His "analysis" of illegally obtained data from a "whistleblower" was so ridden with false assumptions and rookie errors that even some antivaxxers couldn't accept it.

/ December 4, 2023

Sensible Medicine: Medical Misinformation and Medical Groupthink From the Medical Establishment

We all have biases, including in-group loyalty. It's often easy to see such bias in others, though nearly impossible to see in oneself.  As such, it's both normal and dangerous to imagine that only those who disagree with you are vulnerable to groupthink, while you are perfect beacon of independent, rational thought- along with everyone who agrees with you.

/ August 11, 2023
The Great Barrington Trio

Brownstone Institute admits that the Great Barrington Declaration was wrong (without actually admitting it was wrong)

The Brownstone Institute's Gabrielle Bauer claims vindication for the Great Barrington Declaration, the October 2020 document that advocated a "natural herd immunity" pandemic strategy, with an ill-defined "focused protection" strategy to protect those most at risk of death. In the fine print, however, Bauer tacitly admits that its core assumption was badly mistaken, minimizing it as not getting all the "details" right.

/ February 20, 2023

The 2022-2023 Respiratory Virus Season Hits Early and Hard: Part 2

What is RSV and why is it so bad this season? I discuss this and a promising new vaccine candidate.

/ November 25, 2022

Aromatase inhibitors and acupuncture in breast cancer: Spinning a negative study, four years later

Four years ago, I wrote about an essentially negative study looking at whether acupuncture could alleviate joint pain caused by aromatase inhibitors, a common treatment for estrogen-sensitive breast cancer. The study's back, and it doesn't look any more positive.

/ November 14, 2022
Quackery duck

The war on the science-based regulation of medicine accelerates

Last week, it was reported how increasingly there is a war on the science-based regulation of medicine and physicians. It's an old story, but unfortunately the forces arrayed against science-based policy have been emboldened by the pandemic and an stronger alliance with political groups that are against government regulation in general.

/ October 31, 2022
Universal health insurance

Medical debt vs. universal health insurance: The interface between SBM and policy

This blog has long argued that the best medicine is science-based medicine (SBM). The problem is that in the US SBM is often not accessible, except at ruinous cost, which is why I argue that we have to broaden our definition of SBM to include the systems that deliver it and pay for it.

/ June 20, 2022

The Toll of COVID

We can't take our eyes off the ball just yet - what's the state of the pandemic?

/ May 11, 2022

Intubations and Accusations Part 2

A famous economist once said, "When the facts change, I change my mind". Others take the opposite approach and attempt to alter the facts to preserve their beliefs. Read their work with this in mind.

/ February 23, 2022