REVIEW On 1 June 2021, Washington Post and Buzzfeed News published reports on several thousands of emails sent by Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The emails, sent during the first half o
Publication: coronavirus
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Draft Research About Hydroxychloroquine As COVID-19 Drug Does NOT Yet Warrant Calling It A Cure
Does a draft research paper refute the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ban on using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, and does it prove the anti-malarial is a life-saving drug for COVID-19 patients? No, that's not yet true: The web
Poynter→ Anthony Bourdain did not tweet about eating bat soup in Wuhan
The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who traveled the world as the host of “No Reservations,” and “Parts Unknown,” visited Sichuan, China in 2016, eating duck-intestine hot pot and a spicy chicken specialty called lazi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Airlines Did NOT Discuss Banning Vaccinated Passengers
Is there a "risk of clots" from accepting people vaccinated for COVID-19 alongside the nonvaccinated as airline passengers, and are airlines afraid of the liability and holding meetings to discuss the risks? No, that's not true: There is
Health Feedback→ Byram Bridle’s claim that COVID-19 vaccines are toxic fails to account for key differences between the spike protein produced during infection and vaccination, misrepresents studies
REVIEW In late May 2021, the claim that COVID-19 vaccines could cause blood vessel damage to vaccinated people went viral on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter. Many posts and articles (see examples here, and
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence 920 Women Lost Their Unborn Babies After Getting Vaccinated
Did 920 women lose their unborn babies after getting vaccinated? No, there's no evidence that's true: A post making the claim says the data is from the United Kingdom but does not cite a source. It further claims that 571 women in the Uni
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Veterinary Professor Does NOT Prove Vaccine Causes Buildup Of Toxins
Is a Canadian veterinary school professor correct that public health officials made a colossal mistake and have injected millions of Americans with substances that cause the body to manufacture toxins that will injure them? No, that's not
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘The Final Refutation of Virology’ Claims By Stefan Lanka Do NOT Prove COVID-19 Virus Doesn’t Exist
Does microbiologist Stefan Lanka prove that virology is not based on scientific methods? No, that's not true: The known conspiracy theorist and debunked anti-vaccination activist gives no evidence that an experiment "refutes the theory on
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 31,000 People Have NOT Died From mRNA Vaccines
Have 31,000 people died from messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines? No, that's not true: The first mRNA vaccines approved for use in humans are two of the COVID-19 vaccines, which had not been causally linked to any deaths at the time of writing,
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Anthony Fauci’s Emails Were NOT Leaked — They Were Released Through The FOIA
Were Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails leaked to the public? No, that's not true: Several media outlets, including The Washington Post, CNN and BuzzFeed News, filed Freedom of Information Act requests to access copies of Fauci's office emails. A
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Exaggerates Adverse Events Experienced By Adolescents In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trial
Does a video tell the full and complete truth about adverse events experienced by adolescents in a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial? No, that's not true: It says that 86% of children reported "adverse reactions, ranging from mild to serious,
Health Feedback→ Vaccines are a safer alternative for acquiring immunity compared to natural infection and COVID-19 survivors benefit from getting vaccinated, contrary to claims by Peter McCullough
REVIEW An interview featuring Peter McCullough, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Texas A & M University, conducted by writer John Leake on 19 May 2021, was published as a video on Rumble by Fleccas Talks, a channel run by political co
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence That Tom Hanks Is Ill, Will Spend The Rest Of His Life ‘In And Out Of Hospitals’
Did actor Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson reveal her husband's health condition and will he "spend the remainder of his life in and out of hospitals"? No, that's not true: Hanks, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2013 and COVID-19 in
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Email Addressed To Dr. Anthony Fauci Does NOT Confirm COVID-19 Was Man-made
Does an email addressed to Dr. Anthony Fauci confirm that COVID-19 was man-made? No, that's not true: The email, forwarded to Fauci via public inquiry, states that the virus that causes COVID-19 was created but does not prove that it was.
Poynter→ No, emails to Dr. Anthony Fauci don’t show early agreement that virus was human-made
The release of thousands of emails to and from U.S. infectious disease chief Dr. Anthony Fauci has fueled claims that the virus behind COVID-19 was man-made. BuzzFeed and The Washington Post received the emails in response to a Freedom of Informatio
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Vernon Coleman Does NOT Give ‘Proof The COVID-19 Jabs Should Be Stopped Now’
Does Dr. Vernon Coleman give proof COVID-19 "jabs should be stopped now"? No, that's not true: He offers no evidence for why the COVID-19 vaccines should be stopped and cites unverified statistics about deaths from the vaccines. As of thi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Biden Did NOT Jail Fauci For His ‘Dirty’ Money To China
Did President Joe Biden jail Dr. Anthony Fauci for his "dirty" money to China? No, that's not true: The claim is made in the headline of a video that says nothing about the president jailing the nation's top infectious disease expert. The
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Private Email On Masks, Dated February 2020, Does NOT Conflict With What He Was Saying Publicly Around That Time
Does Dr. Anthony Fauci's private email on masks, dated February 2020, conflict with what he was saying publicly around that time? No, that's not true: His email was consistent with the guidance given then. Since the start of the COVID-19
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: U.S. Military Did NOT Arrest Dr. Deborah Birx
Did the U.S. military arrest former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx for her role in deceiving the public about the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19? No, that's not true: The claim i
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: It’s NOT True That Americans Don’t Need COVID-19 Vaccine Because Of 1% Fatality Rate
Do people not need a COVID-19 vaccine because the immune systems of 99% of people who came down with it fought it off without one? No, that's missing context: A 1% fatality rate is not low for an infectious disease, public health experts
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Promising To Blow The Lid Off COVID-19 Vaccines Does NOT Stick To True And Verified Statements
Does a video promising to blow the lid off COVID-19 vaccines present only true and verified statements? No, that's not true: It makes claims about vaccine-related deaths that are not proven. The video also questions why pregnant women and
Health Feedback→ COVID-19 PCR tests are highly sensitive and specific for the virus SARS-CoV-2; the majority of positive results are true positives; there is no evidence that budesonide or HCQ are useful as COVID-19 treatments
On 16 and 17 April 2021, the Health and Freedom Conference was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an event organized by entrepreneur Clay Clark that was attended by over 4,000 people. The aim of the conference was to criticize the measures taken in response to t
Poynter→ COVID-19 vaccines do not create coronavirus variants
This is a new one. Instead of the established understanding that vaccines help reduce the spread of COVID-19, and thereby decrease the likelihood that the virus will be able to mutate enough to create new variants, a new claim circulating online posits
Health Feedback→ COVID-19 vaccines are safer than the risk of COVID-19 infection for people of all ages
REVIEW The U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a surveillance system that helps ensure the safety of vaccines used in the U.S. However, VAERS reports have been commonly misused to spread misinformation about vaccine safety, partic
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Physicians For Informed Consent Fact Sheet Is NOT Factual
Did Physicians for Informed Consent correctly interpret the results of the drug trials by which the Janssen/J&J COVID-19 vaccine was approved and did that testing fail to establish whether the vaccine is effective and safer than COVID
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: There Is NO Evidence COVID Vaccines Are Rewriting DNA, Sneaking In Microchips, Causing Infertility
Are COVID-19 vaccines rewriting patients' DNA, sneaking microchips into people's bodies and causing infertility? No, that's not true: The claims are made without citations to research or other evidence and are directly refuted by public h
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The CDC Did NOT Lift Mask Guidelines ‘Out Of The Blue With No Solid Explanation’
Did the CDC lift mask guidelines "out of the blue with no solid explanation"? No, that's not true: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the rules to allow fully vaccinated individuals to stop wearing masks outdoors and i
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: CDC Did NOT Quietly Release Data Showing 7 Out Of 10 Americans Are Declining The COVID-19 Vaccine
Did the CDC quietly release data showing that 7 out of 10 Americans are declining the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50.1% of the total population, or 166,388,129 people
Health Feedback→ CDC mask recommendations changed as more people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated; masks are effective at reducing virus transmission and are especially important when the majority of the population is unvaccinated
REVIEW On 13 May 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their interim public health recommendations for fully vaccinated individuals. Among the changes was the recommendation that “fully vaccinated people no longer
Poynter→ Should I get a COVID-19 vaccination? Here are some answers to common questions about vaccines.
Lots of people still have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. What’s in them? Who developed them? Do they have legal liability? Are they effective? These are some of the questions we came across in a recent Instagram post that lists things ̶
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Provides NO Evidence For Claim Fauci Had PCR Test Inventor Murdered
Does a video back up its claim that Dr. Anthony Fauci had Nobel laureate Kary Mullis murdered to silence the chemist, who often criticized Fauci? No, that's not true: The claim is made without reference to physical or documentary evidence
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Comment In Lancet Does NOT ‘Confirm’ COVID-19 Vaccine Is Not 95% Effective
Does a new study confirm the COVID-19 vaccine is not 95% effective? No, that's not true: It's not a study at all but a comment in The Lancet, and it says vaccines do work at a high efficiency level, the author told Lead Stories. The claim
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video About COVID-19 Recycles Disproven Claims And Decontextualized Information About Testing, Treatments And The Vaccines
Does a video about COVID-19 present only factual and proven statements about the disease and the COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: It recycles claims that have been disproven and leaves out important context. For example, the video
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier Did NOT Say All Vaccinated People Will Die Within Two Years
Did Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier say that all vaccinated people will die within two years? No, that's not true: Montagnier, a prominent virologist, is a Nobel Prize winner who in recent years has said some controversial things, but he di
Health Feedback→ PCR tests on vaccinated and unvaccinated people are evaluated using the same criteria; the CDC didn’t change criteria for detecting infection in vaccinated people, as alleged in Off-Guardian article
REVIEW An article published on 18 May 2021 claimed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed COVID-19 test criteria to reduce vaccine breakthrough cases and make it seem as if COVID-19 vaccines work, while inflating case
Poynter→ There’s no proof that COVID-19 vaccine has injured or killed 943 kids
Two weeks after Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was cleared for use in adolescents, newly reported clinical trial results show Moderna’s vaccine is also highly effective for 12- to 17-year-olds, a hopeful sign for parents who are eager to get their kid
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The COVID-19 Vaccine Does NOT Wipe Out The Body’s Natural Antibodies
Does the American Red Cross say you cannot donate blood plasma if you've had the vaccine because the vaccine wipes out the body's natural antibodies? No, that's not true: The COVID-19 vaccine does not override or change the body, accordin
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FDA Briefing Documents Do NOT Prove Moderna COVID Vaccine Causes Death And Autoimmune Disease
Do the briefing documents filed in support of Moderna's application for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permission for its COVID-19 vaccine say it causes death and autoimmune disease? No, that's not true: The FDA had, as of May 26, 202
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 10,000 Canadian Doctors Did NOT Say The Pandemic Is A Fraud
Did 10,000 Canadian doctors say the COVID-19 pandemic was a "fraud"? No, that's not true: The petition listed as proof does not declare the pandemic a fraud. It is a protest against the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO)
Poynter→ Why did the federal guidance about wearing face masks change?
To say that federal guidance on mask-wearing has been confusing would be an understatement. Back in 2020, during the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., mask-wearing was discouraged. Then officials changed this guidance, citing clea