#BIBLIOVERIFICA INFODEMIC OLYMPICS 2021 #CROWDSEARCHER

1. COVID-19 vaccines contain luciferase, a substance named after the fallen angel Lucifer.

2. BUY DRUGS ONLINE WITH CAUTION. Only buy medicines online from authorised pharmacies. In Italy, such establishments must have the appropriate identification logo on their website, common throughout the European Union, ”Click here to check if this website is legal”. Just click on the logo and you will be redirected to the Ministry of Health’s website where you can check whether the online seller is registered on the list of authorised ones. If, on the other hand, the website is not linked to a pharmacy, buying a medicine online can be very dangerous.

3. CORRELATION & CAUSATION. Be wary of confusion of correlation and causation. A correlation between variables doesn’t always mean one causes the other. Global warming has increased since the 1800s, and pirate numbers decreased, but lack of pirates doesn’t cause global warming.

4. CLINICAL TRIAL SHORTENED TO HAVE THESE VACCINES AVAILABLE QUICKLY. The studies that led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines did not skip any of the phases of verification of the efficacy and safety required for the development of a medicine; on the contrary, these studies saw the participation of a very large number of volunteers, about ten times higher than that of similar studies for the development of other vaccines. The rapid development and approval is due to new technologies, to the huge resources made available very quickly and to a new evaluation process by the regulatory agencies.

5. MAKING SURE THE SITE IS UP TO DATE. It is very important to check the date of publication. It is a clear indication of the topicality of the news. In fact, nothing is lost on the Internet and it can happen, using a search engine, to arrive at news that is even years old.

6. In September 2020 in Europe commercial/industrial bankruptcies exceeded 160% in Italy, 66% in Spain, 38% in France compared to the previous year

7. The virus mutates so fast that a vaccine will never work.

8. CONFLICT OF INTERESTS. Many companies employ scientists to carry out and publish research – whilst this doesn’t necessarily invalidate research, it should be analysed with this in mind. Research can also be misrepresented for personal or financial gain.

9. The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will use artificial intelligence to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines because the agency knows that vaccines are extremely dangerous.

10. WATCH OUT FOR SEARCH ENGINES. When typing a keyword, the search result does not show a list of sites in order of importance, but the selection may depend on other factors. To clarify, search engines work like ”machine learning”, i.e. they memorise the user’s choices and tastes and then propose topics in line with the preferences expressed in previous choices. Therefore, do not stop at the first search, but try to cross-reference more searches and more data.

11. As of April 2021, industrial production in Italy reached pre-covid levels (average year 2019) for the use of capital goods and intermediate goods

12. CHECK THE SOURCE. Always check who owns the site, newspaper, blog, whether it is an institution, publisher, industry, association or individual citizen. This is useful to understand who is interested in conveying that type of information. Institutional sites include those of the Ministry of Health, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, hospitals and medical-scientific societies. It is important that the reference site always reports, in the news published, authoritative sources of origin, a characteristic that is a measure of the reliability of the site itself.

13. Four pilots who work for British Airways have died from the COVID-19 vaccine, and now the airline is in “crisis talks” with the British government about whether vaccinated pilots should be allowed to fly.

14. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW. Systematic reviews draw on multiple randomised controlled trials to draw their conclusions, and also take into consideration the quality of the studies included. Reviews can help mitigate bias in individual studies and give us a more complete picture, making them the best form of evidence.

15. NON-PEER REVIEWED MATERIAL. Peer review is an important part of the scientific process. Other scientists appraise and critique studies, before publication in a journal. Research that has not gone through this process is not as reputable, and may be flawed.