The COVID-19 pandemic and the limits of Science

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic raised fundamental questions related to the reach of scientific knowledge, the predictability of natural events and the recognition of its own limits. Issues concerning the forms of transmission of the virus, the use of masks, application of restrictive measures, vaccine efficacy and the return to prepandemic normality (COEN, 2021) often require immediate and dichotomous responses that are practically non-existent in the Natural Sciences, especially in biology. These questions are necessary, as the world is facing one of the greatest crises in its history, but they also generate an enormous tension between the search for objective assertions and the field of possibilities, where Science is more at ease (SMITH, 2019).Not only are the foundations of Science scrutinized, but the way in which scientific information is interpreted by society and the media, and by the scientific community itself, are put to the test. To reach the general population, through the media, scientific information is translated into lay language, after being converted into a condensed and generally over-simplified form, when not biased, which can alter its real meaning. Likewise, the interpretation of scientific data by those who do science can go beyond hypothetical limits, reaching the speculative sphere