July 28, 2021 - This is the slippery slope fallacy, which avoids discussing the issue at hand (mandatory masks) by distracting with a far more extreme claim, and assuming that these two things must be connected without providing any evidence that they are connected.

June 1, 2020 - My second Critical Thinking about COVID video looks at the false choice fallacy – specifically, the false choice between economic health and public health. This video series identifies rhetorical techniques and logical fallacies in COVID ...

Read more about the two-day route that offers a blueprint for discovering Fukui beyond the usual tourist circuit. ... To be clear, "herd immunity" by itself is not a fallacy. Saying that rampant spreading as a safe way to achieve it is the one that lacks logic. Every country is pursuing herd immunity. The moment the infection became a pandemic the other path (eradication by completely stopping new infections) became realistically impossible. The important part is understanding that this is to be done either by controlling the spreading to a slow crawl that can be managed without unnecessary loss of lives (but that requires also putting a big brake to the economy) or by developing effective and safe vaccines or treatments that eliminate the risk of complication. 12 ( +15 / -3 ) I highly recommend American conservatives to strive for herd immunity as their political, cough cough, "leadership" advocates.

September 7, 2021 - Gov. Ron DeSantis: “I don’t want a biomedical security state … It’s about your health and whether you want that protection or not, it really doesn’t impact me or anyone else.” (A deadly and contagious virus does, in fact, impact DeSantis and *everyone* else.) pic.twitter.com/oWLhac84R8— The Recount (@therecount) September 3, 2021 · This echoes claims by a number of Republicans in recent months: Why do you care whether others are vaccinated when you’re protected? The reality for anyone who has truly digested the data and the realities of vaccination campaigns or a pandemic, though, is clear: It does have a substantial impact. And while vaccines offer very significant protection, there is a huge collective and even personal interest in getting the vast majority of Americans vaccinated — and not just for the unvaccinated people’s own good.

January 22, 2023 - ARONCZYK: The base rate fallacy. That means a very critical piece of information is missing, the base rate. The base rate is basically how common some characteristic is in a group. So in this case, the base rate that we care about is what percentage of the country's population has already been ...

August 20, 2021 - ARONCZYK: The base rate fallacy. That means a very critical piece of information is missing, the base rate. The base rate is basically how common some characteristic is in a group. So in this case, the base rate that we care about is what percentage of the country's population has already been ...

This is an example of a causal fallacy; specifically, in this case, a type known as false cause. The incorrect conclusion by a friend associating an autoimmune condition with receipt of a vaccine is used to incorrectly assume that the COVID-19 vaccine could also cause an autoimmune condition.

Although most of our scientific understanding is robust, there are uncertainties in the details (Kampourakis 2018). While studies on the etiology of the novel coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic showed that this virus jumped from a wild animal to a human, a certain judgment could not be reached about the type of this animal. Similarly, although vaccines developed against the disease are safe and effective, they do not develop immunity with 100% certainty. However, the citizens are exposed to various forms of information including scientific information, as well as disinformation and misinformation, and may not always make informed decisions. Because of limited scientific knowledge among public and the uncertainty of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the people cannot meet their need of certain information and advice. This situation sets the stage of fake news, unchecked claims and fallacious statements (Nguyen and Catalan-Matamoros 2020).

March 2, 2022 - This article draws on a broadcast popular among the anti-vaccine community to map out six themes used by the broadcast to mislead viewers about COVID-19. The themes are the claim that "they" e government and pharma e are lying to you, claims that COVID-19 is an excuse to remove civil liberties, viewing everyone as an expert, claiming that science cannot save us, skewing the science, and a claim that "they" are out to harm the viewers. The article points out that similar themes are used to mislead followers with anti-vaccine information. It highlights the concern that these themes will not only mislead people who are already anti-vaccine about the pandemic, but may draw in people who are not anti-vaccine but are seeking information about COVID-19, and suggests some options for dealing with the misinformation. Scientists benefit from understanding these claims, as we are often tasked with providing rebuttals to this misinformation.

December 19, 2023 - Let’s take the last example listed above as a case in point. During this current pandemic, a time when we all should be pulling together as a global community of sisters and brothers, finding creative and compassionate ways to help each other, and looking for lasting solutions, too many are setting up a false dichotomy. Either we shelter in place, strictly observe social distancing and wear masks on those rare occasions when we have to venture out (in which case, we obviously don’t care a whit about the economy), or we reopen our businesses and start to resume “normal” life (in which case, we obviously don’t care a whit about people or safety or the common good). The truth, of course, is that we can care about both the economy and people — and most of us do. Any viable solutions must consider both. Yes, there are many who are suffering and dying as a result of COVID-19, particularly our most vulnerable populations, and, yes, we must figure out how to flatten the curve and stop the spre

April 1, 2021 - I am not the problem. It’s somebody else. This is where the Just World Fallacy comes in. I’ve behaved myself. But those other people, who got sick, did something to deserve it.

October 13, 2021 - Unfortunately, COVID-19 cranks and antivaxxers have also been engaging in the ecological fallacy. For example, believers in hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure for COVID-19 tried to correlate the use of hydroxychloroquine in various countries ...

April 26, 2020 - The fallacy of predictions struck me again when I opened the 2019 Global Health Security Index, the first comprehensive assessment of the health security capabilities across 195 nations.