Are Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines associated with an increased risk of serious adverse events of special interest? No, that's not true: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an email to Lead Stories that the vaccines meet the agency's rigorous standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. In addition, the authors of this study created their…

Did 58 percent of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) happen within three days of vaccination and 78.3 percent within seven days? No, that's not true: Since the VAERS system began in 1990, the public database shows 1,066 reports of SIDS deaths. Of that total, 527 or 49.4 percent occurred within…

Does data given to the Food and Drug Administration before Pfizer COVID-19 shots were officially approved show up to 97 percent of vaccinated pregnant women lost their babies? No, that's not true: The Pfizer document that was released as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit does not provide the total number of pregnant women in 63 countries…

Did a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study find COVID-19 vaccination increases the risk of suffering autoimmune disease myocarditis by 13,200%? No, that's not true: The study never mentions autoimmune myocarditis, which is an extremely rare condition. The most common cause of myocarditis, which is rare on its own, is a viral infection, Johns Hopkins Medicine says. The…

Do COVID-19 vaccines suppress innate immunity and increase the risk of infectious disease and cancer? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that COVID (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccines are causing these maladies. The data used to make those claims are based on information from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a database that keeps a record of reported but often…

Do the reported adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines in the United States include more than 4,000 fetal or newborn deaths? No, that's not true: A Lead Stories analysis of the numbers found in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), based on data through April 8, 2022, wasn't able to duplicate the claimed results plus no conclusions can be reached…

Does a Pfizer document list thousands of side effects from its COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: The nine pages of potential side effects are part of a government-required adverse event (AE) report prepared by the pharmaceutical company. It's not meant to be a list of the expected side effects from the shot, but instead, "expert groups and regulatory authorities"…

Are COVID-19 vaccines to blame for "urgent warnings" about blood clots from Pfizer and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? No, that's not true: Both the CDC and Pfizer have promoted such campaigns since 2015. Blood clots are not uncommon, even for the healthiest athletes. The CDC says "approximately 5% to 8% of the U.S. population has one…

Was 2022 the first time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention talked about blood clots ahead of the Super Bowl? No, that's not true: The CDC also publicized blood clots in connection with the NFL championship on Twitter before the 2020 game. The agency has regularly posted about the condition on social media for more than a decade. The…

Have COVID-19 shots increased "serious injury" from vaccines by over 2,000% in Germany? No, that's not true: A press and public relations officer for DKG, the German Hospital Federation, says information was improperly analyzed by a conspiracy theorist. He added, "Millions of people had side effects after their vaccination. The vast majority of these side effects disappeared after a short…