Science & Society Newsletter
Covid Updates, Vaccine Misinformation, Debunking False Claims
COVID-19 Update
We’ve vaccinated a ton of people
Vaccines Delivered
135,847,835
Vaccines Given
109,081,860
20% of Americans have had at least one dose of a vaccine and 11% are fully vaccinated.
Pregnant Women Have a Higher Risk for Severe Covid
Pregnant women have a higher risk for severe Covid infection. The threat to the unborn child remains unknown.
In the CDC journal for this week, they reported on how well mask mandates worked. Here’s what they found:
Mask mandates reduced both cases and deaths within 20 days
After allowing in-house dining there was an increase in cases and deaths but it was more delayed than expected
Bottom line: Mask mandates and restricting dining-in restaurants can help us reduce spread. We are in an arms race with these variants.
Now is not the time to let up—worst-case scenario: if we lose the race against mutations, we could be looking at a never-ending pandemic with no guarantees the virus grows milder. We’re doing well, but we should not allow that to fool us into believing the worst is over—whether it is will be determined by our behavior.
The First 12 months of Covid: Insights in Immunology
Over the past 12 months, a dizzying array of information has emerged from numerous laboratories, covering everything from the putative origin of SARS-CoV-2 to the development of numerous candidate vaccines.
Here, we take readers through the timeline of key discoveries during the first year of the pandemic, which showcases the extraordinary leaps in our understanding of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and highlights gaps in our knowledge as well as areas for future investigations.
Covid-19 has not affected everyone equally
The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening inequality. Long-standing inequalities have increased the risk for severe COVID-19 illnesses and death for many people. This both causes and continues disparities between racial and ethnic minority groups and non-Hispanic white people.
Unequal health risks are the result of different conditions where people live, work, learn, play, and age—what we call social determinants of health. Americans struggle with understanding the social determinants of health—these are contributing factors that play a role in health outcomes although they may exist outside of a person’s control.
Related
COVID-19 disinformation and political engagement in communities of color
Communities of color, suffering equity gaps and disproportionate COVID-19 effects, also must resist ongoing disinformation campaigns designed to reduce their participation in the democratic process.
On Vaccines
People are getting their second dose, and that’s great news.
Vaccine Skepticism Fueled by a Handful of Voices
A relatively small number of people pump out much of the online misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, according to a Washington Post analysis of a massive Facebook study.
50% of all vaccine hesitancy content surfaced in just 10 of the 638 population groups studied
Just 111 users posted half of all the vaccine-hesitant content in the segment behind the most misinformation
There’s a “significant overlap” between vaccine-skeptical and QAnon-affiliated communities.
Facebook has already banned many baseless claims about vaccines. But some posts stop short of breaking the rules and still stir doubt. An example would be someone expressing concern about a side effect when the concern itself was driven by unproven claims or conspiracy theories.
Nearly 30% of Americans and almost half of all Republican men say they won’t get vaccinated, according to Vox reporting on a PBS NewsHour/Marist/NPR poll. This fits with previous polls showing that the Republicans were less likely to get the vaccine. Most disappointingly, it was revealed recently that President Trump received the vaccine but has not been public about it, something that would likely encourage more people to get vaccinated.
Facebook announced a new strategy to counter false vaccine claims, Axios reports, by:
Barring the posting of debunked vaccine claims and booting some repeat offenders
Making it easy for people to find vaccines and connect with local health authorities
Returning validated vaccine info when users search debunked claims
Reporting inaccurately is fueling vaccine hesitancy. An analysis conducted by the DFRLab highlighted that both fringe and mainstream media have reported misleadingly on isolated cases of death following COVID-19 vaccination.
The media play an important role in fighting misinformation, according to experts at yesterday’s Pulitzer Center–Global Health NOW panel yesterday. Claire Wardle, a co-founder, and director of First Draft offered a few tips:
Avoid posting questions—e.g., headlines that repeat a rumor—that could unintentionally wind up “giving oxygen” to misinformation
Fill data deficits with quality info—what are people asking and is there a resource for that question?
Teach people how to recognize a false claim so they’ll get better at “spotting it in the wild”
Related
Nurses fight conspiracy theories along with coronavirus – AP
The White House is set to unveil a wide-reaching, billion-dollar campaign aimed at convincing every American to get vaccinated – STAT
Covid Cases Plummet 83% Among Nursing Home Staffers Despite Vaccine Hesitancy – Kaiser Health New
Misinformation as Motivated Reasoning
Partisans may be more vulnerable to mis/disinformation thanks to motivated reasoning, which is where we start with a belief and gather information to support it. This is thinking like a lawyer; it’s about persuasion not assessing the situation.
Partisans seek out information that will affirm what they already believe and adopt inaccurate beliefs that cast their party in a favorable light. This may happen knowingly and unknowingly. That may explain why independents don’t have a tendency to fall into extremes on any issue. Independents were excluded from this study.
Hoaxlines Disinformation Report
These are the most recent headlines added to the disinformation database. More information about them is available there, but the ratings provide our final assessment.
UNDETERMINED: An animal market in Bangkok could be the place that brought corona to Wuhan
MOSTLY FALSE: “The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House.” —Ron Klain
FALSE: Don’t trust Moderna vaccine, nothing is known about the company
FALSE: The coronavirus pandemic: nano-chips might be injected together with vaccines, allowing “them” to control your money
FALSE: Sooner or later, Americans will have to choose between freedom or a vaccine with a microchip
FALSE: Vaccines don’t heal; their production is part of the agenda for a New World Order
FALSE: Bill Gates, Rockefeller, and Co aspire to a population reduction; the survivors will be poisoned with vaccines
FALSE: Science doubts the effectiveness of vaccines
FALSE: Vaccines from Europe Aim to Sterilize Africans
FALSE: Vaccines don’t stop you from getting Covid-19 or spreading it
MOSTLY FALSE: “When I came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America.” - Biden
MISLEADING: Moderna Vaccine, Has Killed 271 People & Hospitalized 611 People. Pfizer Vaccine, Has Killed 387 People & Hospitalized 791 People (sic),” reads the caption in a Facebook post published on February 14, 2021.
Throwback Titles added to the Hoaxline Database
Bill Gates Talks about "Vaccines to Reduce Population,” from 2010
Bill Gates is Dead, from 2003
See the article for more detailed information.
Science & Society Headlines
COVID-19: Oxford/AstraZeneca jab is 'excellent' and 'no reason not to use it’ says WHO
The WHO says "no causal relationship had been established between the shot and the health problems reported". It’s worth noting, although the evidence does not suggest any causal link.
Denmark has temporarily suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine as a precautionary move after reports of blood clots and one death. However, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the UK’s regulatory body have said that there is no indication that vaccination is linked to thromboembolic events. The decisions are a further setback for Europe’s vaccination campaign, which has struggled to pick up speed, partly because of delays in delivering the AstraZeneca vaccine
A year into the pandemic, tests remain misunderstood. Here's how they work.
There’s a lot of misinformation around about COVID-19 PCR tests. We asked an expert to clear it up.
From anti-vaxxers to Covid deniers — the global anti-lockdown movement
For the vast majority of us, the past year will forever be remembered as the time a lethal, once-in-a-century pandemic tore through the world, causing 2.5 million deaths and bringing much of the global economy to a halt.
Four Things in H.R. 1 That Defend Against Foreign Interference
On March 3, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1: For the People Act of 2021, advancing to the Senate what would be the most comprehensive overhaul of U.S. election law in the past half a century.
The bill strengthens US defense against foreign election interference.
FBI Warns That Deepfakes Will Be Used Increasingly in Foreign Influence Operations
Russian, Chinese, and Chinese-language actors have already used these emerging technologies to create real-looking profile images of nonexistent people in an effort to make their messages appear more authentic to online users.
Fighting Domestic Extremism: Lessons From Germany
The clear threat of right-wing extremism demonstrates the need for a broad-based approach to CVE.
How U.S. White Nationalists organized in plain view on Twitter and Telegram
White nationalist youth movement activists in the United States promoted, coordinated, and retailed tickets for a February 26 conference using Twitter and the messaging app Telegram.
Barred from Facebook, UK Covid deniers litter streets with conspiracy leaflets
Thousands are rallying to print coronavirus vaccine disinformation and anti-lockdown propaganda and deliver it to British homes.
Why you need to hide your Facebook friends list & how
Your friends list is, as you may have worked out, a list of all those users you’re friends with on Facebook.
While on the face of it it may not appear to be particularly useful information for scammers, it can be leveraged by certain crooks to their advantage.
Presumed election interference increases our dissatisfaction with democracy
Pervasive political misinformation threatens the integrity of American electoral democracy but not in the manner most commonly examined.
No, Florida Can’t Regulate Online Speech
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has promised that Florida will soon enact “the most ambitious reforms yet proposed” for “holding ‘Big Tech’ accountable.”
There’s just one problem: It’s unconstitutional.
How Should the U.S. Respond to the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange Hacks?
If the SolarWinds/Holiday Bear campaign was a minimally invasive arthroscopic incision into vulnerable networks, the Microsoft Exchange hack was a full-limb amputation: untargeted, reckless, and extremely dangerous.
The COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Does Not Give House Members A $25 Million Bonus
No, that’s not true: The $1.9 trillion bill, known as the American Rescue Plan, does not give bonuses or raises to House members. The claim states that “Line 17” awards the bonus.
The 628-page bill has a line 17 on almost every page, but none of them grant bonuses to House members, who have not had a pay increase since 2009.
Police video shows the officer had his gun drawn and pointed in the direction of the car as the child climbed out of it.
Body camera video shows the officer then pointed his gun away from the child as the boy approached.
Kids Do Not Need the Same Father to Receive the $1,400 Stimulus Check
No, that’s not true: Nothing in the 628-page legislation, known as the American Rescue Plan, specifies that.
Poll Did Not Show 70% of Georgians Would Vote For Trump In 2024
The March 7-9, 2021 poll by Trafalgar Group/InsiderAdvantage noted that only likely GOP primary voters were polled on Trump.
The claim appeared in a tweet published by the @GovMikeHuckabee account on March 13.
The data may support the opposite of what Governor Huckabee claimed.
Only 70% of the party in Georgia supports him and they would need a great deal more to reclaim seats.
OAN misrepresents the CDC mask mandate study
“It is important to note that the study did not examine the effectiveness of masks,” a CDC spokeswoman said in email.
OAN, known for its frequently inaccurate and misleading reporting, claimed the study found that “face masks had a negligible impact on coronavirus numbers that didn’t exceed statistical margins of error.”
The study showed, and the spokeswoman confirmed, that the findings related to mask mandates were statistically meaningful.
Canadian doctors make inaccurate claims in Covid video
While many physicians are working to spread accurate information about the pandemic, others – in Canada and also in the United States – have used their credibility as doctors to support false or misleading claims.
Covid-19 Vaccine Does Not Cause Infertility
The video, a segment from former Infowars host David Knight, features a man identified as Ben Fellows. Fellows claims that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided funding for a shot, which contains ingredients that cause sterility in both men and women, with immunized men able to make unvaccinated women infertile through sex.
This is patently false and there is no known mechanism through which that could be achieved.
Claims about Bill Gates and a desire to render the world sick or infertile began over a decade ago, with articles as far back as 2010 claiming Bill Gates wants to control population growth. Wasn’t true then and isn’t true now.
Recommended Read: Freeing the Right from Free-Market Orthodoxy
Editor E Rosalie recommends this Foreign Affairs article as a needed discussion about and within the US conservative community.
Title: Freeing the Right From Free-Market Orthodoxy
Subtitle: A conservative coalition built around sensible economics and a nonradical set of cultural concerns might be worth considering.