COVIDiocy Origin: The Nirvana Fallacy

Much of the COVIDiocy and the anti-vax ideology can be traced to the nirvana fallacy or black-and-white-ism. 

The people believing in the nirvana fallacy generally imply that "if it's not perfect I don't want it". This leads to COVID vaccine denial, often with the justification: "it's not a vaccine because it doesn't work 100%!"  (We can get into what's sterilizing vaccine and what's not, but that's a different topic) 

But you can apply ANY justification to their denial. Some of the justifications I've seen include:

• The government lied about the effectiveness of the vaccine! (Relevance? Science can't change?)
• Government can't dictate what I do! (Except for everything else they regulate...)
• COVID is not that serious (despite it killing 1 million Americans?)
• COVID is not that serious to healthy people (you sure about that?)
• I survived COVID just fine! (Are you sure you don't have long COVID and other stuff?)
• There is no long COVID! (whatever floats your boat, dear)
• I'll make up right now something that sounds reasonable! (on why diabetes risks rose after COVID infection... it's because of the lockdown, not COVID!) 
• Vaccine's useless against omicron! (with a booster it works fine)
• Fully vaccinated people get infected anyway! (Are they boosted?)
• My triple-vaxxed "cousin" got infected anyway! (sorry to hear that. Relevance?)
• And I didn't! I'm anti-vax! (so you're lucky. Relevance?) 
• Lockdown did more harm than COVID! (uh, we were talking vaccines?)
• COVID is a con! (next...) 
• With COVID or of COVID?! (great, a COVID denialist)
• Public Health is just a big con by Big Pharma! (okay, that's enough)
• and so on and so forth

But fundamentally, any of these reasons are ad hoc. What they don't really want was the vaccine, and it's a knee-jerk reaction. They are in denial of COVID. Even two years into the pandemic, they refuse to believe it's a lethal disease that had already taken 1 million lives (or almost there). They want to bargain with you (it's only lethal to old people, it's only lethal to those with co-morbidities, it doesn't harm normal people), and from there they claim that all the government had done was for NOTHING, never mind what the government had done so far, yet we still have more COVID deaths than even China. 

Similar thinking exists about masking. That's why the anti-mask-mandate reasons are so ridiculous: 

• Why are you muzzling our kids? (to protect them from airborne pathogen)
• Why are you making it easier for child predators? (what are you saying about school security?)
• Why are you depriving them of oxygen? (mask doesn't do that)
• Why are you forcing them to breathe in their own funk? (that's not harmful) 
• and similar other hilarities. 

The problem with Nirvana fallacy is you won't be able to convince anyone with that sort of attitude toward facts. It's simply NOT reasonable. And it's very easy to see through because the rest of your supposed evidence in support of your reasoning is just as flimsy. 

For some people are just reacting out of fear. 

Vox, back in August 2020, had an article trying to get at the motivation of the anti-mask-ers, and one of them is a grandma who kept visiting anti-vax websites, trying to share them on Facebook, kept getting flagged by other users and got frustrated enough to believe FB was trying to censor her. She is so fearful that she refused to go to the ER after hurting her hand, because...

"...She’s 65 and believes she’d automatically be given a positive Covid-19 test and placed on a ventilator to likely die..."  -- Anti-maskers explain themselves -- Vox Aug 7, 2020

This was the sort of attitude anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers are spreading, telling each other what they want to hear: COVID isn't that serious, protective measures are useless, and public health is not to be trusted.  

That is COVIDiocy. And it is NOT victimless. 

People who caught COVID anyway are told they are weak, they have co-morbidities and not strong enough, or "you'll survive, no big deal". And when they don't, they are to be ignored. Those that survive COVID and suffer from long COVID are told there is no such thing as long COVID. 

While those who survive COVID, seemingly without lingering symptoms are touting their survival as the "proof" that "COVID isn't serious". 

Never mind the survival is greatly enhanced due to vaccines and boosters. 

Even today, two-plus years into the pandemic, there are MANY people still disbelieving the seriousness of COVID, and more clamoring for a "return to normal", even as BA.2 subvariant took over from the Omicron variant and became the dominant strain. 

Antivax COVIDiocy: Now there's proof that COVID vaccine reduces risk for long COVID

One of the least understood risks of COVID is "long COVID" where patients recovering from even mild bouts of COVID can suffer long debilitating symptoms such as inability to focus, fatigue, headaches, "mind fog", and more. WHY of long COVID is still poorly understood, and several theories are available, from microclots to a hidden reservoir of virus in the body. With the BA.2 variant of omicron on the rise, COVID is not going away. 

While the only sure way to NOT get long COVID is to not get COVID in the first place (which means masking and getting fully vaccinated with booster shot), there's growing evidence that getting vaccinated will substantially reduce the chance of developing long COVID, and/or reduces the symptoms of long COVID.

UK has assessed 15 studies around the globe on this topic, and the meta-analysis is consistent: COVID vaccine reduces the chance of getting long COVID. The benefits of getting vaccinated after diagnosis of long COVID, however, are less clear, as some people got better, but some people got worse. 

All the more reason to get vaccinated for COVID, despite antivaxxer rhetoric such as "crime against humanity". But I am guessing if you STILL haven't, you will never do so, still believing that COVID "is like the flu". 

If so, you're still the COVIDiot. 

Stop COVIDiocy: Seattle Students Walked Out of School, Demand Mask Mandates to Be Reinstated

From The Seattle Times:

More than 100 Seattle Public Schools students walked out of class Monday morning to protest the district’s decision to end the requirement that students and staff wear masks. 

Many of those students rallied at district headquarters, the John Stanford Center, to ask Superintendent Brent Jones to reinstate the mask mandate districtwide. Mask requirements for Seattle and most other districts in the state ended a week ago.

And the teachers are pushing back as well. Teachers did not like the unilateral decision reached by the school district superintendent. In fact, the superintendent ended the mask mandate without bargaining with the teacher's union, as required by a prior memo of understanding. 

The school district, of course, blames the governor for lifting the mask mandate. They are merely "aligning" with the changing policy from the state department of Health and Public Health. 

But it's clear that the students and the teachers are on one side, with the district on the other. 

But which side are the parents on? 

Dumb COVIDiocy: Podcaster Self-Pwns With Idiotic Tweet Comparing Self to Dog

Before today, I have never heard of Cari Kelemen. She was apparently some podcaster and media "star". Unfortunately, her tweet demonstrated that her scientific education is severely lacking, and in comparing herself to a dog, probably should have thought about it first... But here's the tweet:

You may think this does sound kinda odd, but there are a couple assumptions that you failed to question. 

1) Are medicine treated same as vaccines in dogs? She's assuming they do.

2) Do dogs get different vaccine dosage based on their weight? After all, a dog could vary from a tiny chihuahua or a small terrier to a huge 100+ pound mastiff. She's assuming yes from 1). 

3) Should you treat a human the way you treat a dog? Of course not...

I am a skeptic, and let's answer these questions:

Do dogs get different vaccine dosage based on their weight? 

No they do NOT. They all get the same vaccine dose (about 1cc). Bodyweight is irrelevant when it comes to vaccines. Skepvet answered this in 2016:

There’s a common misconception out there about vaccines that small animals should have lower “doses” of a vaccine than larger animals. This is a natural assumption stemming, most likely, from our familiarity with how medicines are dosed. However, while there are some differences in the amount of a vaccine given in different species, it is far less of a difference than would be expected if vaccines worked like drugs.

Basically, a vaccine only needs to be enough to trigger an immune response from the immune system. And immune system response threshold is NOT volume- or weight-based. Once the response is initiated, the immune system itself will generate the antibodies and the rest to populate the entire body. If you use a lower dose, you may not trigger the immune response. 

Medicine works differently. Medicine has to get into the body and travel throughout the body via the circulatory system. So the dosage is affected by how big the body is. The body is not triggered by it to help out. Got that? 

So medicine in dogs is NOT the same as vaccine in dogs. 

Guess that blows Q1 and Q2 out of the water. 

 

Do we really need to cover Q3? Why would she compare herself to her dog anyway? 

Don't be a COVIDiot like her. 

COVIDiocy Busted: Latest and Largest Ivermectin Trial Shows It Has NO Effect Over Placebo

The test was done in Malaysia where 490 COVID patients with mild or moderate symptoms were randomly given either IVM or placebo between May and October 2021 for five days. So what's the outcome? No discernible difference. IVM did NOTHING, as we've told you all along. All those IVM pimps had been lying to you about how "effective" IVM had been. It never was. 

In this study, out of 490 patients, 241 ended up in IVM group, and 249 in placebo control group. 52 in the IVM group and 43 in the control group have their conditions worsened to "severe disease", which defined as blood oxygen saturation falling below 95% without use of supplemental oxygen. Other outcomes, such as requiring ICU, mechanical ventilation, or mortality and adverse events, are also nearly identical. 

And these are the most vulnerable, 50+ years old, with some co-morbidity conditions. I.e. the ones that most need the drug to work. 

And IVM did nothing. 

Younger people who are more likely to survive COVID definitely don't need IVM. 

At least two other trials in 2021 (in Colombia and Argentina) ALSO confirmed that IVM did nothing. 

What else did the trial show? Vaccinated patients have a significantly lower rate of severe disease. And IVM reported 60% of all adverse events, including severe diarrhea. 

The conclusion is undeniable. 

IVM did not reduce risk of COVID progressing to severe status. 

IVM did not reduce risk of hospitalization from COVID. 

IVM did not improve survival rate of COVID. 

This trial is using 0.4 mg/kg of body weight for 5 days. This is actually VERY high, but they can do so because all the patients are staying in the hospital for close monitoring. AND they already suffer from high rate of adverse events. 

Imagine COVIDiots self-dosing at home, under- or over-dosing, and getting the runs (loose bowels). 

All for nothing. 

It does not pay to be a COVIDiot. 

Levels of COVIDiocy: the trio of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM)

Recently there is a bit of question on what are the differences among misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, and where COVID deniers and antivaxxers fall. 

But first, let's be clear on the differences. I've personally classified them as:

Misinformation: false information, but the speaker believed it to be true, no ill intent

Example: "COVID is for children is mild like the flu. OMG, a thousand kids have DIED from COVID? I... I didn't know."

Disinformation: false information, but speaker knew to be false, yet without ill intent

Example: "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Malinformation: false information, speaker knew to be false, with ill intent 

Example: Catfishing (romance scams), put up a Craigslist posting of your enemy's address stating "moving out, please take EVERYTHING" causing a mob to ransack the place, SWATing, etc. 

Now that we have gotten definitions out of the way... where do COVID deniers and antivaxxers fall on the scale? 

My personal opinion is they are between misinformation and disinformation. IMHO, most of them have no ill intent (unless they're really Russian or other foreign cyber-op trying to foment trouble) and believe stuff that's not true, or fail to understand proportionality, and tries to maximize the potential harm and minimize the actual benefits of the vaccine, while doing the reverse to the disease: minimize the harm of the disease. 

In terms of COVID, they take the following forms:

* OMG myocarditis risk from vaccines!  (maximize potential harm, refuse to recognize myocarditis risk from the disease itself is worse)

* You can still catch COVID after being 2-jabbed AND boosted (minimize actual benefits, such as minimal chance of hospitalization, and lesser risk of long COVID)

* COVID is mild in children like the flu (minimize disease harm, even though COVID has killed over 1000 kids in 2 years, while flu rarely kills over 200 a year)

However, someone pointed me to a government website that has a somewhat different, and IMHO, more confusing definition: 

Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation make up what CISA defines as “information activities”. When this type of content is released by foreign actors, it can be referred to as foreign influence. Definitions for each are below.

Misinformation is false, but not created or shared with the intention of causing harm.

Disinformation is deliberately created to mislead, harm, or manipulate a person, social group, organization, or country.

Malinformation is based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.

Foreign and domestic threat actors use MDM campaigns to cause chaos, confusion, and division. These malign actors are seeking to interfere with and undermine our democratic institutions and national cohesiveness.

From https://www.cisa.gov/mdm#

There is a bit of a problem as there's little if any difference between disinformation and malinformation. The definition seems to imply that disinformation is completely "made up" while malinformation is not, but a good disinformation should be based on SOME facts to be believable.  

I am not sure which definitions I will use at this time, but the finer details does not matter. One needs to point out falsehoods where one sees it. The intention is difficult to infer and mostly irrelevant. 

Twitter COVIDiocy: Spamming is not Winning

A while back, someone made a remark "I don't know of anyone with vaccine injury" on Twitter.

I replied that "ever notice it's usually antivaxxer's friends or family that have those alleged vaccine injuries?"

Then an antivaxxer dropped a Snopes-verified bogus entry "Pfizer victim" and claim "people don't start antivax, we start because we saw our loved ones suffer"

You saw a BOGUS suffering that NO ONE can verify, eh? 

So I pointed out his bogosity and linked to Snopes debunking the one he linked. 

Guess what he did next? 

He spammed 20+ more other alleged vaccine injuries, while claiming "only fully vaxxed have problems". 

Edit: Make that 37. 

The only treatment you'll get is "mute". I'm not going to debate you and waste my time when you don't give a **** about evidence and science, by leading off with a bogus vaccine death. 

Leading off with a snopes-verified bogus entry. Really smart you are (not), antivaxxer. 

Oh, AND you're getting reported.