The virus leads to approximately 60,000-120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000-10,000 deaths yearly in people over 65 in the U.S. It also threatens young children and pediatric vaccine approvals are expected soon.
anti-vaxxers
We are social creatures, taking our cues as we grow up from those surrounding us – it does take a village to raise a child. But our use of social cues, mimicking the behavior and thoughts of our “village,” does not end with adolescence; it follows us into adulthood. A new study looks at the influence of others on our behavior.
That phrase was a family motto of sorts. On the one hand, it expressed our drive to move forward; on the other, it spoke to our overconfidence in our opinions. Scientists have a term for those following the family motto, the Dunning-Kruger effect – when limited knowledge or competence is coupled with overestimating those qualities. A new study looks across a range of scientific ideas looking for those who are often wrong but never in doubt.
Hear about the German guy who got arrested for getting selling forged vaccine cards to anti-vaxxers? That should be funny enough, right? Nope. ACSH goes the extra kilometer, as usual.
Is it too early to address what went wrong when the COVID vaccines were rolled out? This is not about the “first rough draft of history." Instead, it's a more dispassionate, high-altitude view that allows us to assess this public health moment through two different critical theory lenses: complex systems and scaling.
As of January 25, 2022, some 40% of Americans [1] have not been fully vaccinated. [2] This, notwithstanding valiant efforts for over a year at persuading vaccine uptake. The impacts are now apparent. The US death toll [3] is averaging 2500 cases a day – and rising, at least for now. Because of widespread vaccine resistance, the President has attempted to mandate vaccines. In addition to those refusing vaccines, we now have a separate group of individuals who oppose vaccine mandates.
A new take on sin taxes, Wordle and the Internet, who is an expert, and the return of human sacrifices?
In an attempt “to ensure the full potential for optimal health for our patients,” the American Medical Association, in conjunction with the Association of American Medical Colleges, developed a whitepaper, Advancing Health Equity: A Guide To Language, Narrative And Concepts. It is a challenging document to get one's head around. Let’s you and I take a deeper look inside.
This will come as a shock to you; it did for me. As a physician, not everyone followed my advice. In fact, some people sought second opinions choosing other paths and other physicians! Why would that be?!
The anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense is mis-using preliminary research to fuel doubt about the efficacy of COVID-19 shots. Let's break down one of its latest attempts to distort the facts.
As the COVID-19 vaccines roll out, the anti-vaxxers have been increasingly more militant in their misinformation campaigns, actively and effectively dissuading vaccine uptake. The question becomes what can we do about this activity which harms us all?
A dangerous five-step program converts "vaccine-hesitant" people into full-blown anti-vaxxers.