What Makes Someone an Expert on Vaccines?
Peter McCullough is no more of a vaccine expert than Rob Schneider…
Do you know what makes someone an expert on vaccines?
Peter McCullough sure doesn’t…
What Makes Someone an Expert on Vaccines?
Not only does he think that he is an expert on vaccines, he seems to think that he is THE expert on vaccines.
“You know, of all of the authors who have opined on vaccines throughout history, including Peter Hotez and Paul Offit, um far and away, I’m the most accomplished out of all of those individuals. I have had more peer reviewed citations in the National Library of Medicine, I have looked at more data, I have rendered more conclusions.
So, I am the senior most opinion on this topic right now in the nation.”
Peter McCullough
To be clear, he is not.
Sure, he is an expert on pushing misinformation and propaganda about COVID vaccines and selling supplements and detox kits, but that’s not the same thing.
“I think the childhood vaccine schedule should be suspended immediately at this point and that all, uh school, employment, military, university requirements for vaccination - they should be banned.”
Peter McCullough
And like most of these types who got their start during the COVID pandemic, Peter McCullough has since moved to being full on anti-vaccine, going so far as saying kids shouldn’t get any vaccines!
Still, why does he think he is an expert on vaccines?
After all, unlike Peter Hotez and Paul Offit, he is neither an infectious disease specialist nor a vaccinologist.
Peter McCullough also hasn’t developed a vaccine, as both of them have done.
Is it those citations he talks about?
He does have an awful lot of citations…
But it is important to know that many are:
self-citations - from his other papers…
from papers that have been withdrawn or retracted
from other anti-vaccine influencers
not from peer-reviewed papers
Mostly know that his citation count is about quantity, not quality!
“Citation-based bibliometrics, however, are unreliable and unscientific measures; citation counts do not mean that a more cited work is of a higher quality or accuracy than a less cited work because citations do not measure the quality or accuracy. Citations do not mean that a highly cited author or journal is more commendable than a less cited author or journal. Citations are not more than countable numbers: no more, no less.”
Aberration of the Citation
The papers he published are typically either non-peer reviewed pre-prints, reviews, commentaries, or opinion pieces.
“Citation cartels are groups of researchers who excessively cite each other's work to artificially inflate their citation counts and enhance their reputation.”
Citation Cartels in Medical and Dental Journals
As are the papers that cite him - his citations.
His citations don’t make him an expert on vaccines or autism!
And that’s obvious to anyone who really listens to what he has been saying about vaccines and/or autism…
After all, Peter McCullough still blames the rise in kids getting diagnosed with autism on an expanding childhood immunization schedule that prevented kids from dying with epiglottitis, Hib meningitis, pneumococcal meningitis, and other now vaccine preventable diseases.
And of course, he never mentions any of the other things that are more likely reasons for more kids getting diagnosed with autism besides vaccines.
So think of him as an anti-vaccine influencer, not a vaccine expert.
Peter McCullough is no more of a vaccine expert than Rob Schneider…
I listened to him talk a couple of years ago at a so-called science seminar in Phoenix that was 100% anti-vaccine and all he did was Gish Gallop all over the place. I could follow his lies and disinformation, but I'm pretty sure most of the people who were there couldn't and simply nodded along assuming he had the slightest clue what he was talking about. It was bizarre to think that at one point he might have actually been a competent, caring, capable physician. But it was clear from the seminar he he wasn't anymore. He was in it for the grifting dollars.
I was going to say "I think he's lost his marbles" but that happened a long time ago - he's totally deluded!