From the times of the Roman Empire, through the Middle Ages, until today, mankind has been experienced by deadly plagues – epidemics. With them, there were also conspiracy theories, and people with a dangerous predisposition to prey on human fear. The multitude of conspiracy theories around the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes, makes your head spin. However, if we look at previous epidemics, we see that most of the theories emerging under such “peri-pandemic” conditions are very similar. People – even reasonable ones – are prone to snap up the “cures” for these terrifying diseases, even when there is no evidence that they can actually help. When a person is frightened, it is difficult for them to just keep common sense.

Therefore, during an on-line meeting, during which, based on the history of the epidemic, we showed how to protect ourselves from tricksters and scammers, how to distinguish fake news from real news, and above all, how not to get caught up in new conspiracy theories.

The meeting was hosted by Aleksandra and Jakub Stefaniak – the doctor and engineer respectively, self-proclaimed “plandemiologists”, who have been following conspiracy theories on vaccines with interest for several years. In 2020, they released an educational board game “antyszczepionkowcy.biz”, which in a fun and ironic way helps to fight harmful conspiracy theories about immunization.