FALLACIES AND BIASES

Comments related to COVID-19 emerged post-pandemic. Many different

comments posted to different social media platform like tiktok, Facebook,
Instagram and others. Some of those comments are example of fallacies and
biases. Some of the examples are: 1. “Information that I saw online about COVID-
19 disease causing sterility in the summer was removed. I heard it’s because of
lawsuits related to Bill Gates and the vaccines in Africa. Does this have to do with
the COVID-19 vaccines causing infertility?” 2. “I heard we can’t trust the
AstraZeneca vaccine because that company is aligned with the eugenics
movement.” 3. “A vaccine caused my friend’s autoimmune condition, so could the
COVID-19 cause me to develop an autoimmune disease?” 4. “I heard we don’t
know about the long-term side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.” 5. “it was
thought that COVID-19 resembles the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
pandemic in merely involving the eastern part of Asia, and it is not spreading
through other regions.” The formulation of those comments are mainly because,
they don’t have enough knowledge about the issue.
https://www.chop.edu/news/news-views-name-logical-fallacy-covid-19-edition
Biomed, a. (2021). Cognitive Biases Affecting the Maintenance of COVID-19
Pandemic.
Statement: Type:
Information that I saw online about COVID-19 disease This is an example of a red herring. Red herrings
causing sterility in the summer was removed. I heard are seemingly relevant arguments that serve to
it’s because of lawsuits related to Bill Gates and the distract from the point at hand. In this example,
vaccines in Africa. Does this have to do with the the discussion of removal of information and
COVID-19 vaccines causing infertility? lawsuits involving Bill Gates distracts from the
primary concern related to COVID-19 vaccines
causing infertility. In addressing this concern, it is
important to focus on the question related to
the vaccine’s safety rather than the tangential
discussions related to online information and
lawsuits

I heard we can’t trust the AstraZeneca vaccine because
that company is aligned with the eugenics movement.
This is an example of an ad hominem attack
because it focuses on the company making the
vaccine instead of the vaccine’s safety. While it
seems like relevant information, it distracts from
the point that COVID-19 vaccines were tested in

- A vaccine caused my friend’s autoimmune
condition, so could the COVID-19 cause me to
develop an autoimmune disease?
I heard we don’t know about the long-term side
effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.
-it was thought that COVID-19 resembles the severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic in merely
involving the eastern part of Asia, and it is not
spreading through other regions
large, well-controlled clinical trials, and they do
not cause infertility. Address this argument by
focusing on how we know the vaccine is safe
rather than the issue brought up about the
company.
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. To address this argument, focus on
why COVID-19 vaccines would not be expected
to cause autoimmunity, such as the fact that
vaccines cannot typically cause something that
the disease itself cannot cause. Because patients
with COVID-19 do not develop autoimmune
conditions, it would be unlikely that the vaccine
could cause autoimmunity. Other examples of
causal fallacies are “post hoc ergo propter hoc”
(which translates to “after this therefore because
of this”), when one thing occurs shortly after
another, and “correlational,” when two things
are discovered at the same time.
This is an example of an appeal to ignorance
because it focuses on what is not known.
Because COVID-19 vaccines have not been used
for years, this idea is used to sow doubt by
suggesting that we don’t know what will happen
years after getting vaccinated. When addressing
appeals to ignorance, it is important to focus on
what we do know. In the case of COVID-19
vaccines, we know that the vaccines are
processed quickly and do not remain in the body
for indeterminant amounts of time. We also
know that, historically, when vaccines have
caused severe adverse events, they have
occurred within the first two months after
vaccination. Millions of people have been
vaccinated longer than two months ago without
incident at this point. See more about long-term
side effects at this point.
This is called anchoring bias, which means to
judge based on the first received information
without considering the undergoing alterations
through the time.