Comment by somenameforme

I mean laymen. All epidemiologists and the like are certainly aware of such problems. You'll see these biases and many others buried in the discussion/limitations or other such section in any study. Here's [1] a random one from the CDC:

- "confounding might exist because the study did not measure or adjust for behavioral differences between the comparison groups"

- "these results might not be generalizable to nonhospitalized patients who have ... different health care–seeking behaviors"

Along with many more. The problem is that there was no meaningful public debate whatsoever. You were on board with absolutely anything and everything, or you must be an "anti-vaxer" and just wanted everybody's grandmother to die, and probably also thought COVID was caused by 5G.

[1] - https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7044e1.htm