Nathan Boonstra, MD
@PedsGeekMD
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Equal parts puns, pediatrics, pop culture. I debunk vaccine myths like Spock & McCoy combined. Yes, I’ve read the inserts. Opinions mine, not employer’s.
Des Moines, Iowa
Joined February 2009
If you know what song Data is singing in this scene, then you can find me in the similarly-named app with my same handle. I may even start to post there some day!
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700 children dead from COVID-19 is not “statistically zero.” It’s statistically 700.
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The antibodies you make after getting a vaccine are just as natural as any other antibodies you make. Calling it “artificial immunity” is like calling a treadmill run “artificial cardio.”.
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I’m getting near zero costume recognition from my patients and families, but it’s fun to wear!
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I would especially make sure my kids were up to date on HPV vaccine, which can be given as young as nine years of age. I would not be surprised if that vaccine is one of the first targeted, and it is one of the most lifesaving vaccines we have.
I’m a doctor and, I cannot stress this enough, I recommend making sure you are up to date on all of your vaccines as soon as possible.
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“700 dead children out of 70 million children is so small that there’s no statistically significant difference from zero dead children.”. LISTEN TO YOURSELF and take a stats class monster.
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Hey remember when HPV vaccine was the “controversial” one that the antivax movement swore didn’t work? . They were wrong about that one too. Just throwing this out there, maybe they just hate vaccines and don’t care about the science.
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Those are nice glasses.
A parent at a Birmingham (Michigan) Board of Education meeting about mask mandates for students says “if God wanted us to cover our mouth and nose, he would have made us that way.”
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Not to mention that this is what we *reduced* the pediatric COVID mortality to with all of our mitigation measures. The same measures that reduced pediatric influenza deaths by over 99% last season.
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If you think pediatricians are promoting COVID vaccines because we're being paid off to ignore harm to children, rather than because we've dedicated our lives to protecting children, you really need to get to know more pediatricians.
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You can't get far in a COVID discussion without someone claiming the vaccines don't "stop" transmission. So for reference, here's a non-exhaustive list of published studies & preprints that show being vaccinated against COVID reduces the likelihood of COVID transmission. 🧵.
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@NoelFritsch @FirstHealth So you’re making your child sit out in the cold and tweeting about it. Who’s playing mask games, again?.
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Who remembers when the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe, the borogoves were all mimsy, and the mome raths outgrabe?
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@nichols_senator Honestly this bill doesn't go far enough, you ban mRNA, Big RNA is just going to poison us with tRNA or rRNA, we're just going to have to ban all the NAs, better make that all the As just to be safe, I mean acids in your blood are bad, haven't you seen Alien?.
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Yes, you should in fact call your child's doctor if you are in a situation where you truly can't find formula to feed your baby. There are ways we can help. 🧵.
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"More kids die from car accidents each year than COVID". OK, so find me the vaccine that safely and easily reduces those deaths and I'll go to bat for that too.
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When I see people say that pediatric COVID deaths are “statistically zero,” I am reminded of this entry about the universe in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
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✅GoFundMe drops antivaccine campaigns.✅Facebook downranks antivax content.✅YouTube demonetizes antivax videos.✅Pinterest axes antivax pages.✅Amazon ditches antivax films. 🎾The ball's in your court, @Twitter.
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@McScorer61 @WhiteHouse I mean, what is a forgiven PPP loan but a slap in the face to business owners who survived the pandemic without one?.
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Reminder that @DollyParton is super awesome and COVID vaccines have saved millions of lives.
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Nothing compares to how awful antivaxers are after a death announcement
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I mean I keep seeing newborns, but I can only guess as to where they are coming from
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Just waiting for the barefoot off-road running evangelists to come at me now.
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The antivax meltdown over this post is really a sight to behold.
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@benryanwriter I always thought it was orange-ish. Depends on the lighting I guess. Either way, I already had the vest.
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This is exactly right. “Live debate” is a bad way to determine scientific truth, but a great way for the unscientific to gain the appearance of legitimacy.
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@nichols_senator Wow is this embarrassing coming from a legislator. And I'm in Iowa, which is saying something.
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Note that my tweet isn’t saying that vaccine-induced and infection-induced immunity are the same, nor which is better (a complex and interesting topic!) but that calling vaccine-induced immunity “artificial” doesn’t track.
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Good morning from Iowa, where parents are waking up to find that in the middle of the night the governor had a party and signed a law making it *illegal* for schools to follow CDC guidelines. Effective today.
Just hand delivered HF847 to @KimReynoldsIA desk. Parents, now you get to make the choice on whether your kids will wear a mask or not. #ialegis
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@daxshepard Imagine being a pediatrician who has seen children injured or die from some of these diseases, and having parents tell you they won’t protect their child with vaccines. It’s gut wrenching.
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Really seems like Minnesota is just passing bills to make Iowa look bad these days.
JUST IN: Free school lunch is on the way in Minnesota. On a 71-54 vote in the House, the bill has passed. Gov. Walz will sign the legislation providing free school breakfast and lunch for Minnesota students. Bill signing is tomorrow at a local elementary school.
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@UrbaneDoc4Kids Thanks for all the appreciation from everyone except those calling me Tony Hawk.
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I don’t make a shiny dime from podcasting and in fact I donate to the very splendid and worthwhile @Voices4Vaccines. Just thought you all might be interested.
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Big shoutout to everyone wise enough to get vaccinated because it reduced your risk from COVID and reduced the risk to others, and if you managed to score something free with it, bonus shoutout
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It’s worth repeating, masks are primarily *source control*, not personal protection. They help keep the infected, but not yet symptomatic, from giving COVID to others. So the idea that “you’re free to wear yours” doesn’t fix the problem for the unvaccinated, especially in schools.
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Good moment to share this gem: @vivek_murthy & Elmo team up to talk vaccines & throw a hint of shade at antivaxers.
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I really don’t get how people say “it has a 99% survival rate” as if those are good odds when the 1% is *death*. It’s not a casino. If you lose at COVID, you don’t just go home a little short. You don’t go home at all.
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It seems so incredibly difficult for some to understand that many of us aren't worried for our own health, but actually want fewer people to die. Including those who make poor choices, but especially those that don't have as much choice, like children & the medically vulnerable.
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@DrJBhattacharya I note that you didn’t say there that anyone actually required this of you.
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@SenJohnMcCain On behalf of my most vulnerable patients, thank you @SenJohnMcCain.
I cannot in good conscience vote for Graham-Cassidy. A bill impacting so many lives deserves a bipartisan approach.
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@UrbaneDoc4Kids Y'all, I am used to arguing with antivaxers on here, I have no idea how to handle all this positivity.
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@UrbaneDoc4Kids No I am not going to stand on the skateboard, I'm surrounded by pediatricians who would have no idea what to do with me after the inevitable.
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Those of us in vaccine advocacy circles have known that RFK Jr. was a bad guy for helping spread preventable diseases for like 20 years, so it's nice that everyone else is getting to find out how bad of a guy he is in all kinds of other areas as well.
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“My job is weird. One day, you’re eating Iowa State Fair food with the governor of Minnesota and the next day the Florida governor is banning you from his event,” @rushthewriter said.
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@UrbaneDoc4Kids BTW in the photo I was going for OMG I am almost out of time!!! and came off as IDK how my Apple Watch works.
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@EndWokeness Yes, people have never historically dressed little boys up in cute pastel outfits around *checks calendar* Easter time.
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@BarryESharp It must be very frustrating to watch her choose to abandon everything she has worked for, for such a poor reason.
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Government propaganda for your five year old! How dare *checks notes* Nixon!.
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I had given Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel the benefit of the doubt after rumors surfaced of them being antivax. But this week Biel met with infamous antivax crank RFK Jr, so I guess the couple really has decided that:
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I think he has a point. I for one am sorry for any times I did not recommend the COVID vaccine strongly enough.
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@BrandyZadrozny Frankly, I'm upset about the treatment of the lizard. I hope you can follow up on that.
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Hi! I’m a pediatrician and a father. You might know me from my greatest hits, including “No, We Are Not Buying a Trampoline,” “Yes, You Must Wear Your Helmet,” and “Go Back to Bed, I’m Tweeting at Antivaxers.” .
Hi. I’m a Pediatric Hospitalist. You may know me from my greatest hits “viral bronchiolitis isn’t treated with albuterol.” My #tweetiatrician colleagues & I collaborated on my favorite multi-platinum single “Vaccinate!”.
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To everyone that wants to say "guns don't kill, people do," please note that if you say "vaccines save lives," pediatricians aren't jumping in and saying "well *actually* doctors and nurses save lives *with* vaccines.".
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As an Iowa pediatrician, I certainly think protecting the health of our schoolchildren is a priority, @IAGovernor. Our state experts in pediatrics and public health are calling for mask mandates for school safety, not politics.
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As an Iowa physician myself, I find it horribly unethical to say something like this about *anyone*, and especially when it’s to score political points.
"We anticipate that for this first debate he will be on something" -- GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks spreads reckless, evidence-free conspiracy theories to no pushback on Fox
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Good morning to everyone except all the antivaxers in pediatricians’ mentions who are super upset that we’re going to be saving lives this week. I’m pretty low key & get a fraction of the hate that some of my colleagues get, so be sure to give your own pediatrician some support.
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@KimReynoldsIA Republican lawmakers utterly rejected your plan last term, and this issue was not at the forefront of your campaign. You’ve done everything you can to get around overwhelming negative public opinion to get this rammed through.
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Is he blocking all pediatricians now? Because I’ve never interacted with him.
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So heartbreaking. Too many wait on immunizing bc they hear about myocarditis from the vaccine, which is uncommon and usually mild. But the reality is that the vaccine reduces the chance of myocarditis (and encephalomyelitis). COVID is a risky disease.
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@IAGovernor COVID is still killing far more Iowans than flu or other infectious illnesses. We are definitely not to the point where we can manage it "similarly" without excess loss of life.
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@HouseGOP Pediatrician here. Children's lives are kind of my thing. You can pass a clean CHIP renewal tonight, Democrats will support. You didn't have to let it expire in the 1st place. You're holding children's health hostage, tying it to other issues. #ExtendCHIP.
Children’s lives are at stake. It’s time for our friends across the aisle to stop playing games with CHIP funding.
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@KimReynoldsIA Polls consistently find Iowans don’t want this. Rural Republican lawmakers rejected this last year. Overwhelmingly negative public feedback at hearings in person and online. Bypassing usual committees to avoid rejection. There’s no mandate here.
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This is one of the grossest tweets I've seen from an Iowa public servant.
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@tedcruz Yeah, all the 5-year olds on Twitter. 🙄. OR… something a parent can *choose* to read or show to their Big Bird-loving child to help reassure them, since shots can be scary for kids sometimes. Especially when so many other grownups make them out to be so.
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Luminous pancakes are we, not this crude batter. #NationalPancakeDay #Starwars @Imperial_Timez @starwars
http://t.co/YblmaKso0X.
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So, Andrew Wakefield is apparently making another Vaxxed film. And titling it “Vaxxed II: The People’s Truth.”. I’m sure we can come up with more appropriate #Vaxxed2subtitles, can’t we?. My picks?. Vaxxed II: The Rant of Con.Vaxxed II: Electric Woogawoo.
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Says the guy who thinks vaccines cause AIDS and WiFi causes cancer.
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The antivax movement itself rarely says it wants to ban vaccines - they know saying this out loud makes them outrageously unpopular. Instead they work on ways to discourage vaccination or to create barriers to vaccination, which is exactly what I think we can expect from RFK Jr.
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What's bafflingly incompetent about this is that measles is the most contagious virus on Earth. One case can infect about 18 nonimmune people on average. You don't monitor and only act if the outbreak gets big, because by then it's too late & getting exponentially out of control.
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@WhitlockJason HIPAA means his medical information can't be released by doctors/care team, no matter how "interested" people are or how much the media might want to report on it, so there's not much to be done.
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You’ve just gotta watch this video excerpt where NVIC’s antivax leader explains why their rich benefactor health guru, Dr. Joseph Mercola, cut them off. It involves aliens and what sounds like an Adam Sandler bit. You will not be sorry. Cannot make this stuff up.
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*arrives at work*. *high fives a toddler*. *asks a 5 y.o. to try a new veggie*. *picks a sticker for a 4 y.o. based on their shoes*. *checks Twitter*. *reads about being the devil made manifest*. *closes Twitter*. *asks a 6yo to wear a helmet even if he's really good on his bike*.
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@gopTODD I just saw someone walking inside, alone, with a coat covering their body. No cold temperatures within 100s of feet. Good job, everybody.
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Let’s all get mentally prepared for how, after COVID vaccines become widespread, antivax groups will leverage social media to blame any and everything bad on the vaccine.
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@nichols_senator For reference:.
Guth was the senator that told me that his experience with farm animals led him to believe that herd immunity did not work. #vaxsplaining.
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I hope @vivek_murthy did not get the Pfizer vaccine so that he can be the very model of a Moderna Surgeon General.
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It continues to be confounding how people can be so concerned about nebulous and implausible "long term" effects of a vaccine, but not have a much greater concern about effects from a virus that's killed 5 million worldwide.
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@UrbaneDoc4Kids While you’re here, remember to vote in your local school board elections next week. They are important! You don’t want this guy on the board.
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@csimons3 Nope. We were a study site for the 20-valent pneumococcal vaccine. All of the "associated research associated funding" went to my institution, zero to me personally. And btw Pfizer does not make the HPV vaccine.
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Are you kidding me, @DMregister. Publishing an "opinion" in which a non-expert cherry picks facts for "conclusions" that will harm kids. Iowa has actual pediatricians, BTW. A whole association of them.
Opinion: Children almost never die of COVID-19, and immunity after infection confers significant protection, writes Colin Coulter.
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@JaimeCheaney Because RFK Jr. doesn't use science and evidence to guide his decision making.
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BAAAAHAHAHAAAAA. *groaning inhale*. HAAAAAAHAHAHA. haha . hoooo
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I don’t know who (joe) needs to see this (rogan) but polio cases and deaths were trending upward for decades before the polio vaccines came out and then they precipitously fell.
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