Health

My first memory of the passing of a pope is a traumatic one: someone murdered him. Or at least, that's what everyone around me seemed to believe. I was just 13, but I had a sense that something was amiss: Albino Luciani had been Pope John Paul I for only 33 days, and he was relatively young, in his…

Did The Sun publish a video claiming Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle sold Princess Diana's iconic revenge dress to Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska for $2.9 million in April 2025? No, that's not true: There is no such story or video on The Sun's website or social media. The quote from "Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams" in the video was cut…

Did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 in April 2025? No, that's not true: We found no mention of any such approval on the website of the FDA or Department of Health and Human Services, or on either entity's social media accounts. An FDA guide stipulating that the agency did not recommend ivermectin…

By Raffaella Menichini, Lead Stories Deputy International Teams Manager (Rome) and Lead Stories staff A nine-day mourning period has begun with the death of Pope Francis, who died on Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88, according to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office. The cause of death, declared by the Vatican's Directorate of Health…

Did FSU News report alleged Florida State University shooter Phoenix Ikner participated in an anti-Trump rally? No, that's not true: The now deleted section of the article that mentions and quotes Ikner is about "onlookers" who showed up at the protest. The article quotes him as saying "These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons" when talking…

Does a draft paper by scientists at The Cleveland Clinic "reveal" that the 2024/2025 flu shot increased the risk of flu, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: This study's finding that vaccination was "associated with" a higher risk isn't the same as showing the vaccine is what caused increased risk. The authors of the study found that…

Did Children's Health Defense podcast guest Pierre Kory prove that Texas' confirmation of a 2nd measles death of an unvaccinated 8-year-old in Lubbock was "100 Percent False"? No, that's not true: Kory, who in 2024 was stripped of his internal medicine credential, never examined the patient and said he based his claim on a partial copy of her medical file,…

Did Joe Rogan podcast guest Dr. Suzanne Humphries accurately describe problems with the polio vaccine and with organized medicine's responses to polio? No, that's not true: A Brown University Medical School professor said Humphries made several errors of fact. She erred in claiming DDT pesticide caused polio and that symptoms of arsenic poisoning match those of polio, leading to misdiagnosis.…

Did Congressional Democrats hold an inaugural meeting of something they described as a "shadow government" in the United States in April 2025? No, that's not true: On April 7, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jamie Raskin led Democratic members of the Senate and House Judiciary committees in a meeting held without the involvement of members of the other party --…

Did a series of Facebook posts in late March and early April 2025 offer genuine concern over an unidentified woman supposedly found "heavily stabbed" in a black Audi A7, in various locations in the United States? No, that's not true: Such posts were examples of a known "bait-and-switch" scam, which garnered well-meaning shares of the original post before flipping its…