Pfizer Safety

Is the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine "contaminated" with a type of DNA that causes permanent genetic changes in vaccinated people or leads to death due to cardiac arrest? No, that's not true: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Lead Stories that residual DNA found in Pfizer's COVID shot has produced "no safety concerns." Additionally, an infectious disease expert said…

Is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "required to take the COVID vaccines off the market" as of October 21, 2023? No, that's not true: COVID-19 vaccines are not being taken off the market by the FDA as of this writing. All vaccines that were available in October 2023 had a reassuring safety profile, and health experts point to statistics…

Did Dr. Peter McCullough, an American cardiologist who has repeatedly made anti-COVID-19 vaccine statements, successfully discredit the World Health Organization (WHO) and the global health community's approach to COVID-19 treatment during a speech in Strasbourg, France, on September 13, 2023? No, that's not true: McCullough bases his claims on rejected scientific papers with methodological flaws and long-debunked assertions. The physician…

Were the updated COVID-19 vaccines only tested on 10 mice before they were given emergency use authorization in September 2023? No, that's not true: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Lead Stories that the revised vaccines have adhered to the stringent scientific criteria of the agency concerning safety, efficacy and manufacturing excellence. Human vaccines typically go through rigorous clinical…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirm a "143,233% increase in turbo-cancers due to mRNA jabs," including COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: A CDC spokesperson confirmed to Lead Stories that "There is no evidence to date indicating that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer of any sort (including so-called 'turbo cancers')." The article where this claim originated didn't…

Does data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) briefing from September 2023 show that mRNA COVID vaccines "CAUSE 100,000-200,000 severe side effects" for every one million shots given to "teens"? Yes, that's the label on a data chart, but it's misleading wordplay that makes vaccine aches and pains sound scarier than they are. The Food and Drug…

Did Pfizer recently agree to pay $2.3 billion for medical fraud, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice and was this related to Covid-19 vaccination? No, that's not true: Pfizer did agree to pay such a settlement in 2009, but not in 2023. The settlement was for the misbranding of the anti-inflammatory…

Have COVID-19 vaccines "killed 20 million people" since their rollout? No, that's not true: The article making this claim cited a 2022 study that estimated COVID vaccines had saved -- not killed -- nearly 20 million lives in the first year of the pandemic, the study's lead author told Lead Stories. Also, the calculations used to produce the 20 million…

Did a 2023 "government report" prove that "millions of children" who were vaccinated with the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine developed a condition known as "vaccine acquired immune deficiency, or VAIDS"? No, that's not true: There was no "government report." A site with a rich history of spreading false statements distorted a genuine Australian study. In response to the claim, the…

Did a "survey" find that "Vaccinated people are over 2X more likely to get COVID than the unvaccinated"? No, that's not true: The survey in question was not scientifically sound and included methodological flaws, an infectious disease expert told Lead Stories. The claim originated in a blog post by Steve Kirsch, whose false claims regarding COVID-19 vaccines have been debunked…