COVID
One of the reasons false information and pandemic rumors can be so confusing and exhausting is the high degree of self-contradiction. Granted, not everyone believes every rumor simultaneously, but overall self-contradiction is often a hallmark of inaccurate information, and exposure to many different self-contradicting narratives (often with lots of emotion
Rumors have been circulating claiming that the COVID vaccines have killed thousands of people. These claims are often based on reports to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), a system designed to track ongoing safety of all vaccines and assess for side effects that were too rare to be
COVID
A friend of mine recently asked me how I respond to people who have opposing views about scientific issues like vaccines, and as evidence they cite people with credentials (i.e. PhDs, MDs) who agree with their position. This is a great question, and something I encounter all the time.
COVID
Interview with Dr. Eric Storch, PhD While this blog is usually focused on COVID-19 and helping debunk misinformation, this post is a different. For this post, I wanted to dive into one of the other major health crises caused by the pandemic: the profound impact on mental health. I had
COVID
There is an article circulating entitled “How COVID-19 ‘Vaccines’ May Destroy the Lives of Millions” (on Mercola, it’s behind a subscription wall) that is arguing that the COVID vaccines are dangerous. I have seen this article reposted multiple times on his site, so I thought I’d go ahead
COVID
Here are some of the most common myths I’ve seen circulating online about the mRNA vaccines, and why they don’t hold up. Please share with those trying to sort vaccine fact from fiction. Myth #1: The COVID mRNA vaccines aren't actually vaccines, they are experimental gene
COVID
If there was one single scientific concept I could teach everyone in the country right now it would be this: what is an unfalsifiable hypothesis, and why do they confuse everyone. This concept alone explains a lot of the confusion and conspiracy theories around the COVID pandemic… why many still
COVID
Trying to decide if you’re going to take the COVID vaccine? Me too. And I decided the best way to make that decision was to look through the data. I figured there are a lot of people like me who want to understand the data for themselves. So if
COVID
COVID vaccines are on the horizon! And sadly, vaccine misinformation is on the rise as well. One claim that has been circulating for a while now is the idea that mRNA vaccines will somehow mess with people’s DNA and turn them into genetically modified organisms. Is this true? Lol
COVID
Yesterday someone sent me an article about an alleged side effect of the COVID vaccine: female sterilization. The argument goes like this: there is a protein expressed in the placenta (syncytin-1) that is similar to the coronavirus spike protein encoded by the vaccines. Because these proteins are allegedly so similar,
COVID
How do we know that vaccines are safe? Has any action been taken from side effects reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)? Have vaccine recommendations ever changed in response to reports of adverse events to this system? To answer that question, I’m going to tell you
COVID
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been confusion over the numbers: are cases being undercounted or overcounted? Are deaths being correctly attributed to COVID, or is the COVID death count grossly overestimating the true death toll? People hear stories of men dying from heart attacks being listed as