Thread by @gorskon

You know, the first time I wrote about @noorchashm, I thought that maybe I had been too hard on him when I called him a "useful idiot" for the antivaccine movement. Now that I see he's appeared on @lifebiomedguru's show, I realize that my gut instinct about him was spot-on. 1/

https://twitter.com/noorchashm/status/1365764196667953154

Let's take a trip down memory lane about @lifebiomedguru for @noorchashm's benefit. You might remember that it didn't take long for him to pivot to #COVID19 crankery last year. 2/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/james-lyons-we…

However, before #COVID19 @lifebiomedguru had a long history of being an antivaccine activist. Basically, he was a scientist who ran a genomics/bioinformatics core who somehow went crank antivax several years ago. 3/

I first encountered @lifebiomedguru in 2017, when he was helping to run a dubious antivax "vaxxed/unvaxxed" study being flogged by various antivaccine groups. 4/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/02/24/ano…

Not long after that, he got into a social media spat with antivaxxer @LeslieManookian (who made the antivax propaganda film "The Greater Good." 5/ respectfulinsolence.com/2011/11/18/ant…

The Twitter spat itself was hilarious. Basically, it started when @LeslieManookian attacked @lifebiomedguru for not being sufficiently antivaccine in a blog post on @ageofautism attacking a @nytopinion piece on school vaccine mandates. 6/ respectfulinsolence.com/2018/02/08/get…

Characteristically, @lifebiomedguru fired back, parroting antivax talking points that school vaccine mandates are "not scientifically supported"; "unethical"; and "violate informed consent." 7/ respectfulinsolence.com/2018/02/09/ant…

In his response to @LeslieManookian, @lifebiomedguru wrote: "Let me state this as clearly as possible: as currently formulated, vaccines are filthy, nasty vials of toxic sludge that every American citizen and parent should be able to refuse for any reason." 8/

I wonder if @noorchashm agrees with @lifebiomedguru that vaccines are "filthy, nasty vials of toxic sludge" or his seeming belief that vaccines might cause autism. 9/

More recently, right before the pandemic, @lifebiomedguru teamed up with antivax pediatrician Dr. Paul Thomas to do truly awful science demonizing aluminum adjuvants in vaccines. 10/ respectfulinsolence.com/2019/12/20/dem…

So, I ask you, my Tweeps, what do we call a physician like @noorchashm who's so dedicated to his idée fixe that #COVIDvaccine is dangerous in those who've already had #COVID19 that he's willing to appear on the vlog of a rabid antivaxxer to push his idea? 11/

Yes, I was correct the first time; my gut instinct was correct. @noorchashm is a useful idiot for the antivaccine movement. I now expect that he'll try to email my department chair yet again to complain about how mean and "unprofessional" I am to have said that about him. 12/12