{"id":10249,"date":"2024-04-25T15:25:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T20:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/?post_type=jtf_topics&p=10249"},"modified":"2024-07-21T13:44:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T18:44:54","slug":"was-a-pro-vaxxer-left-speechless-by-vaccine-claims","status":"publish","type":"jtf_topics","link":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/jtf_topics\/was-a-pro-vaxxer-left-speechless-by-vaccine-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Was a pro-vaxxer left speechless by vaccine claims?"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row source=”” text=”Clinical Trials” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” google_fonts=”font_family:Abril%20Fatface%3Aregular|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal” link=”” css=”.vc_custom_1708910874436{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-right-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 1px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”The Claim:” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text css=””]\n
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A widely circulating\u00a0video<\/a> of a conversation between \u201cPushing the Limits\u201d host Brian Shapiro and cardiologist Peter McCullough purports to show the host being silenced because he was unable to refute the claims of the cardiologist, including that the COVID vaccine does not reduce the severity of the illness, that people are more likely to get COVID and be hospitalized if they are vaccinated, and that the vaccine is causing death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”The Facts:” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text css=””]One tactic of the anti-vaccine activist is the\u00a0Gish Gallop<\/a>, which refers to a debate technique where someone overwhelms their opponent by presenting a large number of arguments in a short amount of time. (Learn more about social media \u201cdebate tactics\u201d in our\u00a0Toolkit on Social Media Advocacy<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The idea is that it\u2019s impossible for the opponent to respond to each point one by one due to the limited time, even if the points are weak or have inaccuracies. This tactic can make it look like the person using this technique has a stronger position because their opponent couldn\u2019t address every single point they made. In fact, this video has been edited not to demonstrate any reply by the host, but the\u00a0full video<\/a>\u00a0is available online.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the most incredible claim, that 550,000 Americans died after the vaccine.\u00a0To believe\u00a0that,\u00a0we would need to believe that every death happening within days of\u00a0the\u00a0vaccine is caused by\u00a0the\u00a0vaccine. We would also need to believe that side effects are\u00a0underreported\u00a0by a factor of about 30 (a claim from\u00a0this analysis<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s wrong to conclude that every death is a vaccine death without any evidence that\u00a0the\u00a0vaccine caused these deaths.<\/p>\n

Using\u00a0VAERS<\/a>\u00a0to support this claim is unreliable. In fact,\u00a0the\u00a0government required any death after COVID vaccination to be reported as a function of\u00a0the\u00a0emergency use authorization, regardless of causation. Deaths clearly not caused by\u00a0the\u00a0vaccine are included in these reports.<\/p>\n

Comparing\u00a0the\u00a0total number of deaths after vaccination, no matter\u00a0the\u00a0cause, with\u00a0the\u00a0number of deaths caused by\u00a0the\u00a0vaccine itself is misleading and incorrect. Moreover, assuming that\u00a0the\u00a0rate of reporting adverse events to VAERS after vaccination accurately reflects\u00a0the\u00a0true occurrence of adverse events is not accurate since these reports are unconfirmed.<\/p>\n

Another claim is that \u201cWith every single injection, one is more and more likely to get COVID-19.\u201d They are referencing\u00a0this\u00a0study<\/a>,\u00a0which looked at whether people who are up-to-date on their COVID vaccines (meaning they got at least one dose of\u00a0the\u00a0new COVID bivalent vaccine) are less likely to get COVID compared to those who are not up-to-date. They studied employees of\u00a0the\u00a0Cleveland Clinic during\u00a0the\u00a0time when a new version of\u00a0the\u00a0COVID virus (XBB lineages) was common.<\/p>\n

Read\u00a0the\u00a0whole study, we have come to a different conclusion. What it really found was that\u00a0the\u00a0bivalent COVID-19 vaccine actually lowers\u00a0the\u00a0risk of infection.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0misunderstanding comes from misreading\u00a0the\u00a0figures contained in\u00a0the\u00a0study. This is called a\u00a0Table\u00a02\u00a0fallacy.<\/em>\u00a0Often, epidemiologists need to pool together data to come up with an estimate of risk, known as an adjusted effect estimate. A\u00a0Table\u00a02\u00a0fallacy<\/a>\u00a0results from\u00a0multiple\u00a0adjusted effect estimates from a single model presented in a single\u00a0table.\u00a0Problems arise\u00a0when different types of estimates are presented on\u00a0the\u00a0same\u00a0table. This fallacy is like saying that carrying a lighter makes you more likely to get lung cancer without considering whether\u00a0the\u00a0person smokes. In studies, it\u2019s important to adjust for\u00a0the\u00a0right things.<\/p>\n

This one tweet makes many more claims, as tends to be with a Gish Gallop. We always recommend stopping at fact-checking after a couple of points, but we will cover the others next week.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A video claims a host was left speechless by anti-vaccine arguments. In reality, the video uses the Gish Gallop tactic, and the claims are misleading or false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","jtf_topic_subjects":[189,188,218],"class_list":["post-10249","jtf_topics","type-jtf_topics","status-publish","hentry","jtf_topic_subjects-covid-19","jtf_topic_subjects-mrna-vaccines","jtf_topic_subjects-vaccine-safety","entry","no-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jtf_topics\/10249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jtf_topics"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/jtf_topics"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jtf_topics\/10249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10333,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jtf_topics\/10249\/revisions\/10333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"jtf_topic_subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voicesforvaccines.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jtf_topic_subjects?post=10249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}