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Pre-Bunking Misinformation

45:17 recording · AUTO · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

Daniel Griffin's clinical update: tecovirimat fails for MPOX, measles surges past 1,000 cases, vaccine policy ignores data.

  1. Tecovirimat is off the table for MPOXThe STOMP trial showed 83% resolution on drug versus 84% on placebo, with no difference in pain, healing or viral clearance.
  2. Measles is now a billion-dollar problemAt $104,629 per case and a projected 6,000-7,000 cases this year, declining MMR coverage is modelled at $7.77 billion over five years.
  3. Pre-bunk the fallacy, don't chase every rumourDaniel likens teaching the five logical fallacies to vaccinating before exposure rather than treating each misinformation infection.
Executive Summary AI
  • Daniel Griffin opens with Kristen Panth's piece "Five Logical Fallacies in the Era of RFK Jr." and its case for pre-bunking — teaching people to recognise rhetorical tricks instead of chasing each claim, backed by seven pre-registered inoculation studies with nearly 30,000 participants in Science Advances.4:00
  • The STOMP trial in the New England Journal of Medicine, with Jason Zucker of Columbia University as first author, found tecovirimat no better than placebo for MPOX — 83% versus 84% clinical resolution by day 29 among 412 randomised participants — which Daniel says takes the drug off the table and leaves no effective treatment.10:28
  • A MedArchive preprint put the 2025 cost per measles case at $104,629 and the national burden at $244 million, with declining MMR coverage projected to cost $7.77 billion over five years.13:07
  • Case counts keep climbing — 990 confirmed in South Carolina as of March 3rd, 358 in Utah, and at least 14 active cases at the Camp East Montana ICE facility near El Paso — while the expert meeting on U.S. measles elimination status has been pushed to November.19:51
  • On the respiratory viruses, flu sits on a plateau with 79 pediatric deaths this season and the WHO recommending all three strains be changed, while a South Korean randomized trial found neither metformin nor ursodeoxycholic acid treated long COVID (recovery 63.6% on metformin versus 68% on placebo).30:36
Key Quote
“Yeah, no, I think this just takes tecovirumab off the table.”
— Daniel Griffin10:55
Key Quote
“So, yeah, I think, you know, it's unfortunate because now we have no treatment, no effective treatment for MPOX.”
— Daniel Griffin11:08
Key Quote
“So this scenario would result in a cumulative cost of $7.77 billion over five years.”
— Daniel Griffin13:51