So here’s the problem with modern science vs disinfo. (A 🧵)

A non peer-reviewed PREPRINT comes out (by a bunch of antivaxxers with a history of terrible & retracted papers).

Absurdly purports to show vaxes linked to 74% of autopsy deaths.

It’s obviously nonsense. What to do? If journal does nothing, the paper stays up and is regularly quoted by anti-vaxxers on social media and in the news.
Even though it’s not been peer-reviewed or published, they will claim that “Published studies show!”

Dodgy media latch on. Interviews happen. Fear spreads. /1

A lot of people have asked:
If VAERS cannot infer causality, why do we use it?
Great question!
Requires a bit of a thread- here we go! 🧵 Vaccine trials, while large, are not THAT large (usually a few thousand). There is the possibility that rare side effects (occurring in fewer patients than enrolled in the trials) could occur.

This is why we have surveillance monitoring AFTER a vaccine is released. /2

Defenders of Campbell sometimes claim: “But he simply reports the data! How can that be misleading?”

Allow me to explain: 🧵

https://twitter.com/Johnincarlisle/status/1651284010578870288

In 30 districts in the UK, the data for miscarriages was released.
In 29 of them, there were no changes in 2022 (post release of the COVID-19 vaccines).
In 1 one them, there was.

John reported on the 1, ignoring the other 29. /1

If you’re unsure what “dogwhistling” is… this is a great example.

Ostensibly, a physician is expressing condolences for the tragic death of a young boy. That seems normal and appropriate.

But Malhotra knows his audience. 🧵 For clarity, according to the report, this young man tragically died suddenly of Group A Strep infection.

He is from the UK where kids under 5 have NOT been vaccinated against COVID-19, so there is no chance the vaccine had anything to do with it. /2

After having his account banned for COVID-19 misinformation, Tim Noakes is back with more ivermectin nonsense.
The good news? His 1st sentence is true: evidence on ivermectin IS crystal clear: for C19, it doesn’t work.

The bad news? The rest of his tweet. Let’s explore…🧵 1st: his “independent experts”.
Paul Marik, an ICU doc, published a bogus paper claiming Vit C cured sepsis. This was debunked.

He was suspended from his ICU post after he tried to sue his hospital after they forbade him from giving patients ivermectin /2 13newsnow.com/amp/article/ne…

We’ve all wondered why scientists or MDs “turn”. How respected folk can find themselves deep in the anti-vax community.

It’s a decidedly simple (but dangerous and malicious) process.
Below is a thread on how people become “red pilled.” 🧵 Imagine you’re a YouTuber and you think you explain science well.
Imagine you’ve built a loyal following on mostly reliable stuff and get 50k-ish views per video.

Now imagine you dip your toe into contrarian waters: there’s this new drug: ivermectin. 🧵 /1

Now that Elon’s Twitter is more bot and hateful account infested than ever, some helpful hints to improve your experience. 🧵
- Filters. Turn them ALL the way up. This will mean 99% of the nonsense doesn’t show up

/1 - Notifications. Turn them off. Engage Twitter on your terms, not on other people’s.
- Block. A lot. Firstnamebunchanumbers? Block.
Eggs? Block.
Someone insults you? Block.
It’s your living room- you get to decide who comes in.
Never regret blocking.

/2