Monkeypox disinformation is already a scourge. This TikTok pediatrician is fighting back
For the last few years, Dr. Zach Rubin, a U.S.-based pediatrician, has been publishing snappy TikTok videos debunking medical misinformation to his over 160,000 followers on the platform.
This time, Rubin decided to take on Monkeypox, a rare virus closely related to Smallpox that can cause rash and flu-like symptoms and has been spreading quickly around the world. Rubin’s latest 12-second video features the physician debunking a handful of Monkeypox myths he has come across online.
Rubin’s work dispelling health misinformation since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic has given him insight into the narrative similarities between coronavirus and Monkeypox myths. Coda reporter Erica Hellerstein talked to him about how conspiratorial thinking around Covid has seeped into Monkeypox — and how doctors are fighting back.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.