JAMA network open paper policing misinformation is full of misinformation

Authors living in a glass house wish to throw stones

There's a new paper in Jama Network Open that calls out misinformation spread by Physicians. Of course the key question is what counts as misinformation. Shall we look?

Here are things that the authors consider misinformation:

1. Claiming that “COVID-19 vaccines were ineffective at preventing COVID-19 spread” is misinformation

   Unfortunately, covid 19 vaccines were ineffective at preventing spread. See also: we all got covid anyway and/or escape variants

2. “Claims that myocarditis was common in children who received the vaccine and that the risks of myocarditis outweighed the risk of vaccination were also unfounded.”

   Myocarditis does outweigh the benefits of vaccinations for some ages, in men, and some doses. We proved that here.

3. Claims that “studies conducted before the pandemic definitively concluded that masks do not prevent the spread of respiratory viral infections. Additionally, data showing rising cases in areas enforcing mask mandates were interpreted to mean that the mandates did nothing to slow the spread of infection.” were coded as misinformation.

   The totality of the evidence to date shows no benefit from community mask wearing, as detailed by Cochrane’s multiple analyses. There are no data that show benefit of mask mandates.

4. Claiming “the virus originated in a laboratory in China, which contradicted scientific evidence at the time” is called misinformation.

   It is entirely possible the virus did originate from a laboratory in China.

   The article has other problems.

   1. It uses an incorrect figure for the number of deaths from COVID19.

2. It claims 14% of people have long covid— that number is inflated, and ludicrous on face value.

3. It falsely claims that only J&J lead to deaths, when mRNA also led to deaths. Tracy points that out here.

The article has many more errors, but the biggest one is this.

They consider the truth to be what the CDC says. Sadly the CDC made many errors. I encourage you all to read our preprint on the topic.

Ultimately, misinformation is just a weaponized term meaning nothing. People who use it are often completely ignorant of science and truth.