Post

What's most infuriating to me: he faked it because he wanted to keep selling his own, inferior vaccine. The anti-vaxers have embraced someone who is a caricature of the cartoonishly evil version of Big Pharma they all complain about.

Trump Falls Asleep While NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Tries to Explain Causes of Autism, Trump Wakes Up to Give Dangerous Vaccine Advice newsvideoclip.com/trump-falls-...

They have been citing that study for almost forty years knowing it was a sham, but it gave them a name with letters behind it.

Well, and people with suspect motives. 🖕🖕🖕

I keep saying this is the only answer to combatting disinformation. There will always be grifters. Instead of trying to play whack a mole with them, educate the populace to recognize them.

Was it required for students majoring in the sciences?

In my grad studies we were required to take A research ethics course but I don't recall anything in undergrad.

This article from the College of Physicians in Philadelphia has more details on the Wakefield study historyofvaccines.org/getting-vacc...

It's worth remembering that he only ran, manipulated, and published the study because he was trying to sell an alternative vaccine combination, and not doing well. We remember to follow the money, right?

One of the better summaries. Also: It is valuable and informative to take time and read the edit history of Wikipedia pages and look at citations. N.B. some fraud sites present different content based on your location. Common for marketing also abused to hide. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_...

Great idea.

RFK Jr stepped up to be that grifter. No knowledge of science, many questionable life choices, serial cheater, liar, substance use disorder, dumb as dirt, and just playing off his famous name. He’s done so much harm to US public health. It will take many years, if not decades, to fix all of this.

Interesting! The perpetrator of misinformation, from which he benefited financially, Andrew "Wakefield left the UK and moved to Texas, where, in 2005, he co-founded Thoughtful House Centre for Children, a quack clinic in which he served as Medical Director. sciencebasedmedicine.org/andrew-wakef...

It's been debunked, yet these crazy anti-vax people who've never seen polio or heck even chicken pox keep hugging that lie.

So true, and it’s frustrating how hard it is to undo that kind of damage once it's out there!

This is him: he had to leave the US. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_...

are you listening @channel4tv.bsky.social

Who published that bullshit paper? Why didn't they verify it BEFORE publishing it?

The story gets weirder the more you look at it. The original study had virtually more authors than cases. How is that publishable in a top medical journal? Statistical significance isn't just a matter of opinion. The fact that the inadequate data was faked is just the icing on the cake really.

We have a powerful fascist machine working to make us sick, weak and broke. We’re being poisoned by food-borne illnesses, losing our means to afford healthcare, and being fed insane medical advice. The institutions that protected us are gone, destroyed. There’s nothing normal here.

My sons had only the first MMR, I don't think the second was offered. It was about that time when Wakefield's study was being accepted. The elder then developed mumps, not nice for a teenage boy. Out doctor told me to quickly get the younger his second shot & he escaped infection.

Sadly, that’s so true. Misinformation can spread in seconds, while correcting it takes time, evidence, and patience. That’s why it’s so important to pause, verify the facts, and think before sharing.

Brandolini’s Law: the amount of energy needed to refute nonsense is an order of magnitude bigger than what it takes to produce it. Sadly, misinformation often gets a head start.

I agree that people who knowingly cause serious harm should be held accountable. At the same time, protecting the public and preserving free speech aren’t necessarily opposing goals.

Exactly. That ability to question, test, revise, and even reject previous conclusions is what makes science so powerful. Changing our understanding when better evidence comes along isn’t a failure of science, it’s one of its greatest strengths.

In this Wakefield case the data was a fabricated fiction (a fraud). Unlike homeopathic studies that assumed a lifestyle was healthy and naively added bias. Worth understanding the flaw in the method. Studies now try to change exactly one thing. Study placebos as they are a thing important to study.

Yes, one grifter and one celebrity, lying, cocaine-addicted, mentally compromised Kennedy willing to sell his soul to Donald Trump.

Yes - one grifter, one president who doesn’t know what he’s talking about amplifying the lie, and one HHS director who is equally as unfit as the president, obsessed with the same lie due to never having had a medical education (and having a destructive streak).

The only people who have done more damage to public health than Andrew Wakefield are RFK Jr. and Trump.

True dat.

And politicians looking for ways to divide US citizens

Eegads! And now we have hundreds.

Some state AG should charge him with manslaughter

It also takes parents desperate to understand what happened to their kids and an undereducated population willing to buy any old bullshit.

It also takes a bunch of idiots to believe it.

Anti-vaxxers are just lonely little kids in their hearts, for whom no one would hold their hand after vaccines at the pediatrician. They have missed out on love, and their army was hurty, and now everyone else must pay.

And he is living it up with Elle McPherson. I just cannot imagine that meetcute. Just such an unlikely couple and just adds insult to injury.

And stupid humans to believe them!

All it takes is one grifter and a bunch of gullible right-wingers

Now THAT'S the person who should have charges pressed against him. Not Fauci.

His sample was 40

He should have been jailed.

If you want a laugh while learning more and getting really, REALLY angry, check this out!

And now Wakefield is in the United States.

Wakefield

Republicans lie about everything, then create bullshit to support their viewpont; GOP's conservative propaganda quickly picks up the lie and spreads it as "truth". Thank God most of us aren't as stupid as Republicans want us to be.

I don’t understand the morons who believe him

er Andrew Wakefield

One grifter and a puke funnel of credulous, stenographic media outlets.

If that's so then why isn't every single doctor saying that… Because there are a lot of quacks. 

🤬🤬🤬

😒😒

He lost his license because of the invasive methods he used to cut into the children's bowels as he investigated 'autism like' symptoms after the MMR in a specific group of children, Doctor.

The ultimate bug in the human OS: we’re designed to prioritize a scary story over a boring truth, even when the story is a 404. Deleting the source code doesn't clear the cache.

Asymmetrical information warfare for sure

One grifter and a whole hell of a lot of ignorant people!

It wouldn't be so bad if not for RFK Jr. and Trump doing what they're doing. bsky.app/profile/did:...

Those without critical thinking skills will believe ANYTHING that validates their worldview, and deny all evidence that contradicts them.

Time for prison

The same vaccine used around the world only causes autism in the US. Everyone knows that.

Obviously vaccines do not cause autism, but some people making uninformed claims is NOT justification for doing so ourselves. If you think the Wakefield paper stated vaccines cause autism, or that one paper is the basis for parental concern about vaccines, you are mis- or uninformed yourself.

I can´t believe how many deaths are related to this, even if the paper was pulled decades ago

www.reuters.com/article/busi...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

www.theguardian.com/society/2010...

I shared this on my FB and the grammar police arrested it, completely missing the message.'.. Well the level of grammar shows up the level of education. Dr Wakefield did not fake the evidence. The paper was retracted due to the pressure from the Pharmaceutical Company.' (Rod hinds, with thai bride)

Bluesky: where we talk about the damage caused by a lack of critical thinking. X: where we find out how many ways we are wrong and must suffer for it...

A lot of Americans are gullible

I’m not defending his actions. But, you asked the question so…doctors are getting screwed. The money is shit compared to what we’re expected to do. And, we don’t actually start making shit money until we’re 35. So, fuck retirement. I’ll work until I’m dead or until the work kills me. Great.

Oooops!! RFKJR !!!

W. Edwards Deming fixed it with "in God we trust; everyone else must bring data."

Ooops!! Ha!! Of course!!

The idiots who believe it think he’s a hero and “they” ousted him because he was a truth warrior. Humans are severely flawed.

Didn't I also read that he was selling some supplements or something, which is why he was anti-vax?

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

www.theguardian.com/society/2010...

...all over the world with his nonsense and become a millionaire as a result. It's disgusting.

Plus a willing white wing media to spread the lies and when proven false dont retract just move to the next lie Fyi 40 years ago Iran a county 90 million started stock piling missiles for this day. They are not second rate. Everybody knows it. Thats why Israel pushed Trump because hes stupid!

It’s easier now that we have brain worm RFK jr in charge

A part of me wants to also blame orgs like Autism Speaks treating autism and neurodivergency like a cursed disease…

The UK doesn't have a ban on cruel and unusual punishment, so they really missed a great opportunity there. Maybe go old school and give him the Guy Fawkes treatment. On second thought, it's never too late to make a point...

AI will further distort the truth. And data centers will destroy entire communities and further erode our fragile freedoms. That's the reason billionaires are building them.

It’s shocking how many oft repeated “truths” are handedly debunked bullshit but the debunking never makes the waves the lies did.

And the "unbiased" 2 equal sides to every story media is really horrible & dumb at its job of informing.

These OG anti-vaccers did irreparable harm also.

And a lot of gullible people

Air pollution is a bigger contributor than vaccines.

I remember Andrew Wakefield touting his lies on the #BBCR4today programme.

He had help from Jenny McCarthy and Oprah Winfrey

ABSOLUTELY 💯

And a bunch of MAGAs.

One white grifter?

The ppl who still believe him also believe likeminded scientists, naturopaths, etc. have been/are being systematically assassinated by what they’d describe as a “deep state” w/in the medical/phamaceutical industries. We have the internet to thank for the spreading of this nonsense. Clickbait galore.

We have a Grimace of Grifters.

He should be tried for crimes against humanity imo. How many people is he responsible for killing?

The Bryan Deer books are worth a read. I covered the story back then for my news station and saw the patent application for Wakefield’s alternative MMR vaccine. According to Deer, he wasn’t anti-vaccine in the beginning. He was pushing his vaccine to be used instead. briandeer.com/mmr/lancet-s...

When will the Sunday "news" ask him about this doctor?

Anyone qualified here who can inform us if MMR vaccine actually exists or is available as three separate vaccines?

Sadly, the other grifter was @thelancet.com which chose to publish the story in 1998; retracted in 2010. Nobody can put the toothpaste back in the tube.

The liars and frauds always have an easier time because they are unconstrained by facts, integrity and reality.

The Lancet should never be allowed to live this down. Honestly they should be boycotted by anyone doing respectable research, in protest of the harm they have done.

Another grifter was Jenny McCarthy. She kept getting in front of cameras and telling the lie about her vaccinated and autistic son.

So correct. All it takes is one dementia President to destroy a country with a help from the Republicans in Congress.

He was one of ours but the UK stripped him of his medical licence. He had developed a useless version of the vaccine that he was trying to sell to the National Health Service and decided that scaring parents off the existing vaccine was the way to go. We thought that was the end of him, but no.

www.brainyquote.com/quotes/winst...

I wonder if Jill Stein will run again... Or, did she die from Covid?

Perpetrators include architects of a half-century of violation of trust in professional journalism. Growing up in a time when some papers were liberal, some were conservative, some were financial & some were supermarket rags gave a foundation that intentionally deceptive Fox et al destroyed.

Perhaps medical evidence papers should be saved and classified using blockchain, to maintain value apparent to all countries?

And the guy only said that, because he wanted to sell his own vaccine.