After an 11-day ordeal, tennis star Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia after he lost his final bid to stay in the country and play in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated […] The post Novak Djokovic isn’t the first athlete t
Publication: coronavirus
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: COVID-19 Vaccines Do NOT Contain 81 Strands Of Bacteria And HIV
Do COVID-19 vaccines contain 81 strands of bacteria and HIV? No, that's not true: A video showing a masked woman making false claims about COVID vaccines is an altered audio-and-video package from a real interview done by VICE Media with
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Just 50,000 People Have NOT Died From ‘COVID-ONLY’ — Death Toll From Virus Tops 840,000
Have just 50,000 people in the United States died from "COVID-ONLY" during the pandemic? No, that's not true: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counts COVID deaths as cases where COVID-19 was the immediate cause of deat
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Some Mouthwashes DO ‘Disrupt’ Coronavirus In Lab Tests — But They’re NOT A Cure, And More Study Is Needed
Do some mouthwashes "disrupt" COVID-19 in the lab? Yes, that's true in a lab, but it's not a field-tested cure and researchers say it needs more study. The report by Rutgers University scientists, published March 1, 2021, shows two types
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Researchers Did NOT Discover ‘Various Foreign Objects’ Like Worms In Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine
Did researchers discover "various foreign objects" -- like worms hatching from eggs -- in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: None of the listed ingredients in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine are intentionally har
Poynter→ Hospitalization data is being used to claim that the pandemic is overblown. Here’s why that’s wrong
Soon after positive omicron COVID-19 cases exploded across the U.S., hospitalizations followed. Many states are seeing their highest levels of COVID-19-related hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago. […] The post
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video’s Purported ‘Morgellons’ In Respirator Masks Could NOT Be Nano-Robots — ‘Nano’ Is Not Visible To Human Eye
Do respirator masks prescribed to reduce viral spread contain nano-robot parasites called Morgellons? No, that's not true: "Nano" describes structures one billionth of a meter across, which makes the video images impossible, since it show
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: COVID-19 Quarantine Camps For Unvaccinated Were NOT Proposed By Washington Health Board
Did the Washington State Board of Health adopt a rule that would involuntarily place unvaccinated residents, including children, into COVID-19 quarantine camps? No, that's not true: The board made an administrative rule change to the law
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: MIT Scientist Does NOT Prove COVID-19 Vaccine Has Possible Long-Term Side Effects
Did an MIT scientist prove that the COVID-19 vaccines have possible long-term side effects? No, that's not true: The "scientist" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a computer scientist who offered no proof that the COVID-19 v
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Claim That Governments Kill Black People With Medicine Is NOT True — ‘Tribunal’ Hearing Claim is NOT Real Court
Did author and self-proclaimed naturopathic practitioner Robert O. Young present legitimate testimony that admits that governments are using medicine to "exterminate" Black people? No, that's not true: The International Tribunal for Natur
Health Feedback→ No, COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain bacteria and HIV; the vaccines enhance the body’s ability to respond to pathogens, not reduce it
REVIEW A video published on Facebook, showing a woman wearing a mask who claimed to be a “natural doctor”, alleged that the COVID-19 vaccines decreases our ability to produce white blood cells, and that the vaccine contains “81 strands of fore
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Make-A-Wish Did NOT Deny A Wish For Unvaccinated 4-Year-Old Cancer Patient — Charity Asked Him To Make Another
Did the Make-A-Wish Foundation refuse to grant a 4-year-old cancer patient a wish because he is not vaccinated? That's not true: The charity's medical team had ruled out air travel and large group settings for unvaccinated and critically
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Covid Boosters Are NOT Weakening Immune System — European Agency Says Remarks Were ‘Misunderstood’
Are COVID-19 boosters weakening the immune system? No, that's not true: Articles and social media reports saying that Marco Cavaleri, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) vaccine strategy chief, fears repeated booster shots would weaken th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This Meme Is NOT Correct: COVID-19 Is Deadlier Than The Seasonal Flu
Is this meme correct in saying COVID-19 is less deadly than what was known as Spanish flu a century ago, or current variants of seasonal flu? No, that is misleading: COVID-19 is killing more people annually than the seasonal flu did in th
Health Feedback→ There is no evidence that dietary supplements containing zinc and a zinc ionophore, such as the one promoted by Vladimir Zelenko, are effective against COVID-19
REVIEW On 6 January 2021, Gateway Pundit, a website that has consistently promoted conspiracies and published misinformation on numerous occasions (see here), published a piece promoting a dietary supplement sold by Vladimir Zelenko called Z-Stack.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Hackers Did NOT ‘Crack’ Pfizer, Moderna Servers And Reveal Vaccine Death Data
Did hackers "crack" the servers of COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna and reveal vaccine death data from those companies? No, that's not true: The data used to make that claim is from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VA
Poynter→ Fauci said all you have to do is ask for his financial disclosure. But it could take a while.
Critics of Dr. Anthony Fauci — the government’s top infectious-disease adviser — hint that he profited from the COVID-19 pandemic. Without evidence, they’ve raised questions about whether Fauci made any stock trades […] The post Fauci s
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Meme Does NOT Paint Accurate Picture Of Effectiveness Of COVID-19 Vaccines
Does this meme paint an accurate picture of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: Although what we know about the virus and the vaccines has changed over time, scientists and public health experts continue to say th
Poynter→ How will we know when the COVID-19 pandemic is over?
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld was riffing about a COVID-related standoff keeping Chicago teachers out of the classroom when he made a bold claim about the state of the COVID-19 […] The post How will we know when the COVID-19 pandemic is over? appear
Health Feedback→ No, a study from Denmark didn’t find that COVID-19 vaccines make people more prone to infection; biases in the study likely led to underestimated vaccine effectiveness
REVIEW A Substack article written by journalist Alex Berenson claimed that “vaccinated people are at higher risk of Omicron”, citing a study conducted by researchers in Denmark. The article received more than 2,500 user engagements on Facebook,
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: CDC Will NOT Begin To Provide Data On How Many US Deaths Are ‘From’ COVID And How Many Are ‘With’ COVID – It’s Already Done That Way
Will the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) newly begin in January 2022 to provide data on how many U.S. deaths are "from" COVID and how many are "with" COVID? No, that's not true: The National Center for Health Statistics (
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ronald McDonald House Is NOT ‘Evicting’ All Unvaccinated Children From Its Facilities
Is Ronald McDonald House "evicting" all unvaccinated children from its facilities? No, that's not true: Although it's true that Ronald McDonald House (RMH) British Columbia (BC) & Yukon mandates vaccinations for everyone working, visi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Aboriginal Interpreter Is NOT Translating Mark McGowan’s English To English In Video — She Is Speaking Kriol
In a video made to encourage COVID-19 vaccines in aboriginal communities, did Mark McGowan, the premier of Western Australia, make a patronizing and insensitive blunder by having an Indigenous interpreter stand beside him and simply repea
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: CDC Whistleblower Did NOT Say ‘Vaccines Were Never Meant To Stop COVID-19’
Did a CDC whistleblower say "vaccines were never meant to stop COVID-19"? No, that's not true: The purported whistleblower claim was published on a website with a disclaimer warning readers not to take its content at face value.The Center
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pfizer CEO Did NOT Say Two Doses Of Vaccine Offer Very Little Protection Against COVID-19
Did the CEO of Pfizer say that two doses of the vaccine offer very little protection against COVID-19? No, that's not true: He was speaking specifically about the omicron variant, not about other variants of the coronavirus. Clipping the
Poynter→ Social media claims distort CDC director Rochelle Walensky’s comment about COVID-19 deaths and comorbidities
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, one of the nation’s top public-health officials, shared encouraging news in a TV interview about the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing COVID-19 deaths. But social media posts […] The post Social media claims distort
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Times Editor Who Died Of Heart Attack Bragging After Third COVID Shot
Does a video show New York Times editor Carlos Tejada, who died of a heart attack in December 2021, bragging after getting his COVID-19 booster? No, that's not true: The man in the video is a Canadian comedian named Stewart Reynolds. The
Health Feedback→ CDC director’s comments that 75% of COVID-19 deaths are among people with four comorbidities applies only to vaccinated people
REVIEW An article published on the website for The Joe Pags Show, the talk show of commentator Joe Pagliarulo, used a partial quote from Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to suggest that 75% of CO
Poynter→ Is a cloth mask effective enough against the omicron variant?
The highly transmissible omicron variant is sweeping through the U.S., causing a huge spike in COVID-19 cases and overwhelming many hospital systems. Besides urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted, […] The post Is a cloth mask effective e
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: No One Clear Cause For Recent Reported Cardiac Events Among Soccer Players
Are "all the soccer players getting heart attacks"? And can the recent cluster of cardiac events suffered by athletes be attributed to any one cause? No, that's not true: Several of the recent incidents are clearly unrelated to the COVID-
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Scientists Do NOT Prove 93% Of People Who Died After COVID Vaccination Were Killed By Vaccine
Did scientists prove that 93% of the people who died after being vaccinated for COVID-19 were killed by the vaccine? No, that's not true: The non-peer-reviewed paper by two scientists, Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi and Dr. Arne Burkhardt, provides
Health Feedback→ The scientific evidence shows that COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of infection and mortality; analysis of cases and deaths from 145 countries is methodologically flawed
REVIEW A Substack article claimed that a “New big data study of 145 countries show COVID vaccines makes things worse (cases and deaths)”. The article, written by tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, received more than 4,700 engagements on Facebook, i
Poynter→ Claims that Bob Saget died due to a COVID-19 vaccine booster are unfounded
Actor and comic Bob Saget was found dead on Jan. 9 in a hotel room in Orlando, a day after he had performed a set there. The county sheriff’s office tweeted that […] The post Claims that Bob Saget died due to a COVID-19 vaccine booster are un
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: COVID-19 Vaccines Are NOT Full Of Exclusive Nanotechnology To Create ‘Slave Species’
Are COVID-19 vaccines full of exclusive nanotechnology to create a "slave species"? No, that's not true: Anti-vaccination group La Quinta Columna (The Fifth Column) provides no proof for its claims that COVID vaccines contain nanotechnolo
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tiny Amount of Sodium Azide In Covid-19 Test Liquid NOT Able To Poison People — It Doesn’t Touch Patient
Is a lethal drug included in over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits? Yes, but that is misleading. In the Abbott Laboratories home kit, the drug sodium azide is in the liquid in a dropper bottle, with the liquid placed on the paper test card
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Misinterpreted CDC Director Quote About 75% COVID Deaths With 4+ Comorbidities Was About Vaccinated People
Did Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "confess" that over 75% of COVID deaths occurred in people with at least four comorbidities? No, that's not true: The percentage is correct but extreme
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 1986 Act NOT Violated by Vaccine Makers Pointing Out VAERS Errors
Are vaccine makers violating federal law when they point out there are duplicate reports, mistaken claims of causality and other flaws in the federal government's Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)? No, that's not true: The l
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pfizer CEO Did NOT Say Company’s COVID-19 Treatment Pill Will Contain Microchip
Did Albert Bourla, the CEO of biopharmaceutical company Pfizer, say that the company's COVID-19 treatment pill will contain a microchip that transmits information once swallowed? No, that's not true: A Pfizer spokesperson told Lead Storie
Health Feedback→ Robert Malone’s statements on The Dana Show about vaccine safety and virus variants are inaccurate and unsupported
REVIEW On 9 December 2021, The First TV network broadcasted this video interview between host Dana Loesch and Robert Malone. The interview went viral on Facebook, receiving more than 88,000 interactions only on Loesch’s Facebook page. In addition,
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Over 100,000 Children Are NOT In Serious Condition From COVID-19 As Supreme Court Justice Said
Are over 100,000 children in serious condition because of COVID-19? No, that's not true: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor overstated the pandemic's toll on children 17 and under during Supreme Court oral arguments on January 7, 2022.