Abstract
The scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic was swift and forceful. Researchers from every discipline around the globe turned their attention to fighting the virus and saving lives, and the results are a credit to science. Safe and effective vaccines were available in less than a year, and new treatments continue to emerge. But there have been missteps and false starts as well. Mistakes and dead ends are nothing new to scientists, although the urgency of the pandemic and the public’s hunger for hopeful news may have contributed to the frequency of missteps and their visibility in mass media. Experts on science policy and science communication don’t fault scientists for mistakes in the lab; those are normal at any time and especially in the early stages of research. “We knew science would go completely wrong in the process,” says Dietram Scheufele, a professor of science communication at the University of
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