bias
Like so many other anti-vaxxers, Djokovic is deep into so-called alternative medicine (SCAM).
An article in THE TELEGRAPH explains it quite clearly. Here are a few passages:
Here is an anti-scientific crank hiding in plain sight … [In his book Djokovic explains] how he suffered from recurring physical ailments – allergies, breathing difficulties, blocked sinuses – until he gave up gluten.
Nothing especially weird so far – until he explains how his gluten intolerance was diagnosed. A Serbian nutritionist called Dr Igor Cetojevic asked Djokovic to hold his right arm out at right angles and resist the pressure as he pushed down on it. Then the exercise was repeated, only this time while Djokovic held a slice of bread against his stomach. “I was noticeably weaker,” writes Djokovic, who adds that “kinesiological arm testing [has] long been used as a diagnostic tool by natural healers.” Yes, and mediums have long claimed to speak to the dead …
Here is a man who broke up his visits to Wimbledon with trips to the nearby Buddhapadipa Temple to meditate by a lake. A man who revealed two years ago that he has a “friend” in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens – “a Brazilian fig tree that I like to climb”. Yes, Djokovic’s jet-setting spiritualism might sound charming in itself. But its side-effect has been credulousness.
Serve To Win [ND’s book] describes a so-called “researcher” taking two glasses of water and directing loving energy towards one, while swearing angrily at the other. “After a few days … [the angry glass] was tinted slightly green … the other glass was still bright and crystal clear”. Harmless, perhaps, if deeply dippy. But then, last year, Djokovic could be found hosting a former estate agent called Chervin Jafarieh on his Instagram Live channel. Jafarieh was selling bottles of Advanced Brain Nutrients at $50 apiece, which – like Djokovic’s resistance to the Covid vaccination – sounded contrary to the interests of public health…
… Djokovic expressed in a 2018 interview with Shortlist magazine. “I believe that it is our mission to reach a higher frequency through self-care by exploring and respecting our own avatar, our body and, by doing that, raising the vibration of the planet.” …
And so we return to the dark side of this whole peculiar tale. Were Djokovic just a journeyman player, his pseudo-scientific beliefs would be no more than a bizarre footnote. As it is, he is a powerful role model, particularly in the Balkans. Thousands of people have probably emulated his stance on vaccines. Some are likely to suffer consequences as a result…
Another article explains:
New York Times tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg tweeted out after the news of Djokovic’s visa rejection that the Serbian had been “wildly anti-science” over the years. 
“Let’s not lose sight of how wildly anti-science Djokovic has publicly been for years,” Rothenberg began. “Here he was last year preaching about how you can change water with emotion.
“Naive, but maybe these real consequences today can be a reality check for his nonsense?”
Former New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse said it was “sad to see such a brilliant tennis player join the anti-science, pro-poppycock anti-vaxxers”.
Tennis Channel producer David Kane added: “I sort of don’t care whether Australia bungled L’Affaire Novak because of political/media pressure. This is about someone who has been stridently anti-science and never indicated a good faith effort to receive this essentially mandatory vaccine.F around & find out, as they say.”
And a Guardian article provides further information:
His belief in alternative medicine is complemented by his commitment to alternative history. He frequently retreats to Visoko, in the hills of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he meets up with the businessman Semir Osmanagic – whose claims that there are ancient man-made structures with magical healing powers, refuted by scientists, have turned the hills into a lucrative tourist destination. Djokovic has also expressed his support for the ultranationalist alternative historian Jovan Deretic, whose writings claim, among other things, that numerous European cultures, including ancient Greeks, Celts and Etruscans, are descended from Serbs.
I am quite confident that I play tennis as splendidly as Djokovic understands medicine. Yet, I do not pretend to be able to teach you how to do a perfect ‘top slice’. In contrast, Djokovic loves to take the role of ambassador for SCAM and other weird stuff.
His father stated that “Novak is the Spartacus of the new world who does not tolerate injustice, colonialism and hypocrisy but fights for the equality of all on this planet, regardless of skin color, religious belief and money they have.” Personally, I see this differently: Djokovic is badly affected by proctophasia; he tolerates no end of BS and fights for pseudoscience. And sadly, his views are all too persuasive to gullible consumers – not exactly what we need in a global health crisis!
Astrology is nonsense!
Hold on, did we not recently discuss an RCT showing that being born under the sign of Pisces was associated with a decreased risk of death? Yes, indeed, we did!
And isn’t there a branch of homeopathy that heavily relies on astrology? Yes, indeed, astro-homeopathy does exist.
This suggests to me that a sizable proportion of my readers do believe in astrology. As I have made a New Year’s resolution to try to be nice and patient to even the weirdest of them, I herewith offer astrology fans an insight into what 2022 will bring. For that purpose, I have taken one key prediction for each star sign from a website fittingly entitled YEARLY HOROSCOPE:
- Aries will have big surprises from his life partner.
- Taurus: dept can increase by leaps and bounds.
- Gemini: expect big developments.
- Cancer: You will have a hard time keeping up with messages and appointments.
- Leo: your abilities will be appreciated.
- Virgo: you should seriously consider advancing your education.
- Libra: you’ll need to work closely with others.
- Scorpio: you, and everyone around you will focus on a variety of challenges.
- Sagittarius: you’ll refuel what might be called your inspiration tank.
- Capricorn: you may meet a fortunate contact.
- Aquarius: don’t burn any bridges that you don’t have.
Being an Aquarius myself, I am struck by the wisdom of not burning bridges that I don’t have. It is brilliant! And so fitting!!!
But then I look at the predictions for all the other signs, and I must say: they also apply to me. In fact, ALL of them apply to me, and not just me – they all apply to everyone.
Does that mean that astrology is nonsense after all?
Does that mean that my attempt to be nice to and patient with even the weirdest of the proponents of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) has already ended in defeat?
I hope not!
THE GUARDIAN published an interesting article about vaccination hesitancy yesterday. Here is a short passage from it:
One major missing piece of the puzzle, currently under consideration, is a strategy that gets to the bottom of why 5 million people remained unvaccinated, especially those in communities with an ingrained distrust of authority.
No 10 even turned to an artificial intelligence (AI) company earlier in the year to determine the causes of vaccine hesitancy, but Whitehall sources acknowledge there is still a lack of understanding about how many of the unvaccinated remain so because of entrenched anti-vax ideology, misconceptions that could be turned around, a lack of time or transport to get to vaccine centres, or just apathy.
Yesterday, it was also reported in DER STANDARD that the Austrian Science Minister Martin Polaschek has commissioned a study from Statistics Austria, which for the first time was to look at the vaccination status of the population according to socio-economic characteristics.
The study yielded fascinating findings that might shed some light on the phenomenon of ‘entrenched anti-vax ideology’:
- Across all age groups, the proportion of vaccinated persons, including recovered persons, is 67%.
- Slightly less than four percent of the population are only recovered, and about 30% are neither one nor the other.
- There are no marked differences between men and women.
- The willingness to vaccinate is strongly related to the level of education.
- The vaccination rate in the group of 25-64 year-olds with a university degree is about 84% and thus significantly higher than among those who have only basic education (68%).
- In this age group, it also seems important whether someone has a job (76%) or not (69%).
- People employed in the information and communication sector (85%) and public administration (83%) are the most likely to be vaccinated.
- Workers in agriculture and forestry (67%) and construction (65%) are the least likely to accept vaccinations.
- Health and social services personnel have a vaccination rate of 79%.
- More than half of the 600,000 schoolchildren had already been vaccinated, and in the upper secondary school it was even 72%.
- The rate among teachers is also high, at 85%.
- 86% of the approximately 395,000 students at universities had been vaccinated.
- As 92% of all medical students were vaccinated.
- The vaccination rate among Austrian nationals, at about 70%, is clearly higher than that of people without an Austrian passport (52%).
- The difference between those born in Austria and those not born in Austria is only five percentage points.
- The willingness to be vaccinated is higher among people from Turkey (73%) than among those born in Austria (68%).
- Among Germans and Afghans, it is around 72%.
- People from Romania (43%) and the Russian Federation (45%) have the lowest vaccination rates.
- The percentage of vaccinated people is highest among those between 75 and 84 years.
Similar findings have, of course, been reported from other countries. However, what seems new to me here is the finding that vaccination rates are strongly correlated to the level of education: the anti-vax brigade tends to be uneducated and ignorant. If confirmed, this suggests that education might be a way to make them accept vaccinations.
PS
Of course, correlation is not causality. But there seems to be a dose-response relationship between education and willingness to vaccinate. This makes a causal effect more likely.
THOSE WHO KNOW NOTHING MUST BELIEVE EVERYTHING
Bloodletting therapy (BLT) has been widely used for centuries until it was discovered that it is not merely useless for almost all diseases but also potentially harmful. Yet in so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) BLT is still sometimes employed, for instance, to relieve acute gouty arthritis (AGA). This systematic review aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of BLT in treating AGA.
Seven databases were searched from the date of establishment to July 31, 2020, irrespective of the publication source and language. BLT included fire needle, syringe, three-edged needle, and bloodletting followed by cupping. The included articles were evaluated for bias risk by using the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool.
Twelve studies involving 894 participants were included in the final analysis. A meta-analysis suggested that BLT was highly effective in relieving pain (MD = -1.13, 95% CI [-1.60, -0.66], P < 0.00001), with marked alterations in the total effective (RR = 1.09, 95% [1.05, 1.14], P < 0.0001) and curative rates (RR = 1.37, 95%CI [1.17, 1.59], P < 0.0001). In addition, BLT could dramatically reduce serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level (MD = -3.64, 95%CI [-6.72, -0.55], P = 0.02). Both BLT and Western medicine (WM) produced comparable decreases in uric acid (MD = -18.72, 95%CI [-38.24, 0.81], P = 0.06) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) levels (MD = -3.01, 95%CI [-6.89, 0.86], P = 0.13). Lastly, we demonstrated that BLT was safer than WM in treating AGA (RR = 0.36, 95%CI [0.13, 0.97], P = 0.04).
The authors concluded that BLT is effective in alleviating pain and decreasing CRP level in AGA patients with a lower risk of evoking adverse reactions.
This conclusion is optimistic, to say the least. There are several reasons for this statement:
- All the primary studies came from China (and we have often discussed that such trials need to be taken with a pinch of salt).
- All the studies had major methodological flaws.
- There was considerable heterogeneity between the studies.
- The treatments employed were very different from study to study.
- Half of all studies failed to mention adverse effects and thus violate medical ethics.
We all need cheering up a bit, I’m sure.
Luckily, I found just the thing.
The New York Post reported that a former Versace model, Tom Casey, is crediting his youthful looks to drinking his own urine, and to perineum sunning (exposing your butt hole to sunshine). “I drink my own urine every morning — I call it hair of the dog!” Casey proclaimed, “the feeling is electric.” The ex-model also flushes his urine into his rectum and applies it to his skin as a moisturizer. 
“It wasn’t as bad as the mental barrier in my own mind,” the ex-catwalk star reminisced. “I felt a cool buzz. Intuitively, it just felt good. I drank my urine on and off for a while from there.”
Casey began drinking his own urine on a daily basis back in 2008 and hasn’t looked back. He has even completed a “seven-day urine fast,” drinking nothing but his own urine for an entire week. He also bottles his pee, lets it “ferment” and uses it in an enema. “I would cultivate my own urine and ferment it in a sealed Mason jar for two weeks before transferring it into my rectum,” he explained. “Aged urine enemas are so powerful for your health and I got my six-pack abs after doing them. It flushed out my gut and that’s when I got really ripped.”
Casey uses his urine also as a moisturizer, which he believes helps maintain his appearance. “What it did for my mood and muscle building was amazing. I put it on my skin, especially when I’m on the beach, and it’s so electrifying and strengthening,” he cooed. “It’s a big psychological leap for people to use their own urine as a moisturizer but it’s so euphoric and anti-aging. Uric acid is used in high-end skin care products.”
“I’m 55 years old and most people don’t look and feel like I do at my age. No one can deny that I’m ripped, and that’s down to the fact that I love being extremely healthy and practicing natural healing methods.”
Casey claims Big Pharma is terrified of people learning that the secret to their health lies within themselves.
“What so many pharmaceutical companies don’t want to tell you is that we as humans are the secret to health. That’s what I try to teach people in everything I do,” he stated.
“People should be scared if they’re eating s–tty food and doing pharmaceutical drugs. Why should they be scared to try their own urine?”
____________________________
Personally, I feel that Casey believes the sun might be shining out of his arse. In any case, it is hard to deny that the former Versace model is suffering from proctophasia and/or is taking the piss.
In Germany, the anti-vax movement is frighteningly strong and it constitutes one of the main reasons for the relatively immunization rate. In no small part, this is due to the many anti-vax Heilpraktiker who practice in Germany. In an attempt to put the record straight, the ‘Verband Klassischer Homöopathen Deutschlands’ (VKHD, Association of Classical Homeopaths of Germany) recently published an article entitled ‘Heilpraktiker – Homeopathy – Vaccination’ (Heilpraktiker – Homöopathie – Impfen). Here is a short excerpt (my translation):
… There is a clear conceptual similarity between homeopathy and vaccination [1]. From a historical point of view, this was already reflected in the early days of homeopathy, when its discoverer, Samuel Hahnemann, expressed himself very positively with regard to the smallpox vaccination newly introduced at that time [2]. Thus, it is historically wrong to insinuate that users of homeopathy have a fundamentally negative attitude towards vaccinations [3]. In this context, terms such as “vaccination opponents” or “vaccination refusers” are misleading and defamatory [4].
A critical (not skeptical) approach to the topic of vaccinations is basically a characteristic of people with medical expertise. Such an attitude corresponds to the critical consideration necessary in daily practice and in each individual case to advise on suitable therapy options [5]. Properly working alternative practitioners give differentiated advice accordingly [6]. A fundamentally vaccine-rejecting attitude is precisely not a characteristic of a critical assessment that has taken place. The same applies to an unreflective recommendation of vaccinations or therapy methods, without taking into account individual factors as well as scientific and social backgrounds [7].
For the VKHD, we cannot give exact figures on recovered, vaccinated, or unvaccinated members. It is not the responsibility of a professional association to demand such information from its members [8]. We assume that alternative practitioners who provide information on vaccinations do so in accordance with a responsible ethical attitude, regardless of their own vaccination status [9] …
I have taken the liberty of inserting some references into this text. They relate to my comments, which are as follows:
- A conceptual similarity between vaccination and homeopathy exists only in the minds of homeopaths. They often claim that both use highly diluted remedies. This is wrong because homeopathic remedies do not usually contain active ingredients, whereas vaccines do. This fact also explains why homeopathics do not produce immune reactions, whereas vaccines do.
- Correct! Hahnemann was in favor of vaccination. That is why he would be ashamed today if he knew how many homeopaths oppose vaccination.
- What has this got to do with ‘historical’? I assume that the ‘insinuations’ refer to the situation today. Further, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that all homeopaths are ‘fundamentally’ opposed to vaccination. However, that many of them are anti-vaxers is an indisputable fact.
- I would rather think they are accurate.
- Correct.
- How can they without any medical background?
- Is it to be implied here that real medical people do?
- Maybe not ‘demand’, but inquire or request would be possible and desirable, wouldn’t it?
- It is nice that you believe this. But belief is not evidence.
This study assessed the effectiveness of Oscillococcinum in the protection from upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in patients with COPD who had been vaccinated against influenza infection over the 2018-2019 winter season.
A total of 106 patients were randomized into two groups:
- group V received influenza vaccination only
- group OV received influenza vaccination plus Oscillococcinum® (one oral dose per week from inclusion in the study until the end of follow-up, with a maximum of 6 months follow-up over the winter season).
The primary endpoint was the incidence rate of URTIs (number of URTIs/1000 patient-treatment exposure days) during follow-up compared between the two groups.
There was no significant difference in any of the demographic characteristics, baseline COPD, or clinical data between the two treatment groups (OV and V). The URTI incidence rate was significantly higher in group V than in group OV (2.9 versus 1.2 episodes/1000 treatment days, difference OV-V = -1.7; p=0.0312). There was a significant delay in occurrence of an URTI episode in the OV group versus the V group (mean ± standard error: 48.7 ± 3.0 versus 67.0 ± 2.8 days, respectively; p=0.0158). Limitations to this study include its small population size and the self-recording by patients of the number and duration of URTIs and exacerbations.
The authors concluded that the use of Oscillococcinum in patients with COPD led to a significant decrease in incidence and a delay in the appearance of URTI symptoms during the influenza-exposure period. The results of this study confirm the impact of this homeopathic medication on URTIs in patients with COPD.
Primary endpoint, comparison of the number of upper respiratory tract infections in the two treatment groups during follow-up
This prospective, randomized, single-center study was funded by Laboratoires Boiron, was conducted in the Pneumology Department of Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, and was written up by a commercial firm specializing in writing for the pharmaceutical industry. The latter point may explain why it reads well and elegantly glosses over the many flaws of the trial.
If I did not know better, I might suspect that the study was designed to deceive us (Boiron would, of course, never do this!): The primary endpoint was the incidence rate of URTIs (number of URTIs/1000 patient-treatment exposure days) in the two groups during the follow-up period. This rate is calculated as the number of episodes of URTIs per 1000 days of follow-up/treatment exposure. The rates were then compared between the OV and V groups. The following symptoms were considered indicative of an URTI: fever, shivering, runny or blocked nose, sneezing, muscular aches/pain, sore throat, watery eyes, headaches, nausea/vomiting, diarrhoea, fatigue and loss of appetite.
This means that there was no verification whatsoever of the primary endpoint. In itself, this flaw would perhaps not be so bad. But put it together with the fact that patients were not blinded (there were no placebos!), it certainly is fatal.
In essence, the study shows that patients who perceive to receive treatment will also perceive to have fewer URTIs.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE!
The Corona Committee (Corona Ausschuss) was founded in Berlin in July 2020 by the lawyers Viviane Fischer, Antonia Fischer, Dr. Reiner Füllmich, and Dr. Justus Hoffmann. Its aim is to provide a “factual analysis” of the coronavirus events and the consequences of the measures taken against them. In live sessions lasting several hours, the committee hears experts from all COVID-affected fields.
In an interview, Dr. Fuellmich said: “The decision to set up a Corona Inquiry Committee came about in the first telephone conversation Viviane Fischer and I ever had. After I had spoken out in the USA via various videos since April 2020 about the fact that the principle ‘audiatur et altera pars’ (hear the other side as well) had been blatantly violated here on the part of the government, I had come back to Germany from the USA because I felt that this was now my place and that I had to stand up here to ensure that our democracy and our constitutional state did not go completely to the dogs. I wanted to organize a symposium on the legal issues surrounding Corona, but I didn’t know any critical lawyers in Germany. I called my old friend Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, whom I knew from the Justice Working Group at Transparency International, and he then referred me to Viviane Fischer.”
The ‘Speerspitze‘, an “anonymous collective of contrarians, Corona deniers, Nazi witches and conspiracy heretics” considers the work of the Corona Committee to be “one of the most important pillars of the fight against the madness to which we have been subjected for the last year and a half and [has] great respect for all the activists, actors, and interviewees of the Committee who publicly denounce with their name and face what is happening.” Numerous further websites have joined in the promotion of the Corona Committee.
However, if you look at the information that the Corona Committee is disseminating, and if you are able to think critically, you are likely to come to very different conclusions:
– There is the expert who warns that the unvaccinated could soon be picked up and put into concentration camps. There is the threat of a “manhunt”, and loving parents might then have to hide their children under the boards of the floor at home to prevent them from being sprayed to death.
– There is the man who claims that Israel’s government is currently carrying out a holocaust on its own population (“You can see that by how many people are dying from the vaccinations”). A guest declares that there are “something like living octopuses” in the vaccine against Corona.
Anyone who takes a look at the many tediously long videos will quickly realize that every Corona denier, vaccination opponent, conspiracy theorist, mask opponent, and lateral thinker, no matter how paranoid, have their say here and spreads their pipe dreams under the guise of evidence-based information with the nodding approval of the lawyers present. Opposition is never raised and there is no trace of ‘audiatur et altera pars’; everyone agrees: worldwide, all governments are hell-bound at smashing everything there is to govern.
For those who are still not fed up, the website of the Corona Committee offers written answers to 31 very specific questions. Here is just one.
QUESTION: IS THE COVID-19 DISEASE SEVERE AND WIDESPREAD?
ANSWER: No, most people have no or only mild flu symptoms. Children and adolescents are extremely rarely affected. Post-mortem examinations by a Hamburg forensic pathologist on over 100 elderly people who died with a positive corona test revealed at least one other serious cause of death in all cases. Other published figures are mostly based on non-transparent attributions and assumptions without excluding other causes. Often, no attention was even paid to other pathogens or previous medication.
Factual analyses?
Afraid not!
For a long time, I have been wondering where the penetratingly vociferous opposition to COVID vaccinations in Germany might come from. After studying the dangerous nonsense that the Corona Committee has been spreading for many months, I wonder a little less.
(texts in German were translated by me)
On Dec. 1, the College of Chiropractors of B.C. (BCCA) held its AGM and registrants voted in favour of a non-binding resolution calling for the regulator to “take a stand” against an expected vaccine mandate for health professionals. Subsequently, Health Minister Adrian Dix then “expressed his extreme displeasure” about the remarks of some chiropractors.
“Minister Dix indicated it was an embarrassment that a health profession would in such resounding numbers … support such unfounded and false claims while people are dying from COVID-19,” said the BCCA’s executive director Angie Knott. In bold and underlined text, she added, “He also stated that it made him question the validity of self-regulation.”
During the meeting in question, 78% of those chiropractors in attendance had voted in favour of the motion. Chiropractors are not trained in treating or preventing infectious disease and are prohibited from offering advice on vaccinations in B.C.
This is not the first time health ministry officials have expressed concerns about the ability of chiropractors to adequately regulate themselves.
- In 2018, CBC reported on an anti-vaccination video that had been created and shared by the college’s then-vice chair Avtar Jassal, in violation of college policy and despite complaints from a member of the public.
- A Freedom of Information request to the ministry later showed that the day after the story was published, the ministry’s director of regulatory initiatives wrote an email saying he was asked to outline “what options we have when a college is not meeting its legal obligation as set out under the HPA [Health Professions Act].”
- Vancouver chiropractor resigns from college board over anti-vaccine video
Even the proper regulation of quackery will merely result in quackery!
In 2013, Zuckerman et al. conducted a meta-analysis of 63 studies that showed a negative intelligence-religiosity relation (IRR). Now a new meta-analysis with an updated data set of 83 studies has re-addressed the issue.
The new analysis showed that the correlation between intelligence and religious beliefs in college and non-college samples ranged from -.20 to -.23. There was no support for mediation of the IRR by education but there was support for partial mediation by analytic cognitive style.
In 2012, Canadian scientists tested the hypothesis that an analytic cognitive style is associated with a history of questioning, altering, and rejecting (i.e., unbelieving) supernatural claims, both religious and paranormal. In two studies, they examined associations of God beliefs, religious engagement (attendance at religious services, praying, etc.), conventional religious beliefs (heaven, miracles, etc.), and paranormal beliefs (extrasensory perception, levitation, etc.) with performance measures of cognitive ability and analytic cognitive style. An analytic cognitive style negatively predicted both religious and paranormal beliefs when controlling for cognitive ability as well as religious engagement, sex, age, political ideology, and education. Participants more willing to engage in analytic reasoning were less likely to endorse supernatural beliefs. Further, an association between analytic cognitive style and religious engagement was mediated by religious beliefs, suggesting that an analytic cognitive style negatively affects religious engagement via lower acceptance of conventional religious beliefs.
Some time ago, I reported about a study concluding that a higher religiousness/spirituality is associated with a more frequent use of supplements or additional therapies in individuals with endocrinopathies or metabolic diseases. As so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) has been shown to be associated with worse outcome, addressing religiousness/spirituality which stresses the responsibility of the person for his life might offer an additional resource and should be further studied.
On this blog, we have discussed many times, that advocacy of SCAM is associated with vaccination hesitancy; see, for instance here, here, and here)
Finally, the findings of a recent study suggest that beliefs in an engaged God were associated with greater mistrust in the COVID-19 vaccine. This association was amplified for Hispanic and lower-educated Americans. The authors argued that beliefs in an engaged God may promote distrust of science, reduce motivation to get vaccinated, and derive comfort and strength by placing control over one’s life in the hands of a loving, involved deity.
There are, of course, other factors involved in the complex relationships between intelligence, religiosity, SCAM, and vaccination hesitancy. Yet, it seems clear that such links do exist. I agree that it is well worth investigating them in more detail.
