Anti-vaxxer Asshattery Continues: No Lie Too Big


 The anti-vaxxer deplorables are at it again—or still. I have two recent incidents to tell you about.  

The first is an article published by a outlet that I won't name here because I don't want to promote it (if you must know, you can find the name in the first link below). The outlet has published vaccine disinformation multiple times.

This time, they used the headline: “Secret CDC Report reveals at least 1.1 Million Americans have 'Died Suddenly' since the COVID Vaccine roll-out & another Government Report proves the COVID Vaccines are to blame.” As USA Today reports, this is 100% Grade AA bullshit.

As is usually the case with these asshats, there is a report, but it doesn't say what they claim. The data in question come from a CDC report on excess deaths during the pandemic. 

They get that number by comparing death rates during the pandemic to death rates when there was no pandemic (studies I've seen compare 2020-2021 to 2018-2019). 

It's like a kind of field experiment: If the time periods are comparable except for the pandemic, we can assume the pandemic caused the extra deaths. The thing is, these calculations do not take the cause of death into account. So all we know is that extra people died of something. 

Experts in the USA Today article say the bulk of the deaths are the result of COVID-19 infections or knock-on effects of the pandemic (like an increase in suicides). But the anti-vaxxers decided they would just lie and claim that all the deaths are from vaccines. 

The second incident concerns the collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin in a recent football game. Anti-vaxxers jumped at the chance to blame vaccines for his collapse. Once people started spreading this lie on Twitter, right-wing COVIDiots Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson jumped in and amplified the disinformation. 

People who actually know things say his heart attack was caused by commotio cordis. That's a freak accident where someone is hit in the chest at a precise (millisecond) stage of the heartbeat cycle. 

A researcher who until recently worked for Twitter watched the game and knew it was coming. She said: "We've seen this trope applied over and over again, not just to athletes, but any sort of celebrity malady."

So I guess this is the new standard operating procedure for the anti-vaxxers. What until some celebrity dies or has medical issues for unknown reasons, then blame it on vaccines. 

"Lisa Marie Pressley died at 54 and no cause of death was given! It's proof positive that the vaccine killed her! The conspiracy goes even deeper than we thought!"


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