Natural Immunity

Did President Joe Biden err in saying "end of quote" during his farewell address on January 15, 2025, as some social media posts suggested? No, that's not true: Speakers often say "end of quote" to show they've finished quoting someone else. Biden has used this phrase in his speeches before to clarify things. Public speaking experts told Lead Stories that…

Did a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study find that children who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are more likely to get infected than those who are unvaccinated? No, that's not true: The study of children aged six months to four years found there was not a big difference in infection rates, especially for those who hadn't had COVID…

Did President Joe Biden err in saying "end of quote" in his remarks after the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity on July 1, 2024, as some social media posts implied? No, that's not true: There are many ways of signifying a quote in spoken language, including the use of "quote-unquote" or "quote-end of quote" to set off the quoted…

Is measles vaccination proven to have caused "63 times more" deaths than measles in the United States between 2003 and 2018? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found zero credible sources confirming that. The claim that has been circulating on social media and beyond since at least 2015 manipulates the vaccine adverse effect reports, conflating coinciding events with causation that…

Did Piers Morgan interview controversial wellness coach Barbara O'Neill about a "Diabetes Solution" on his program "Uncensored"? No, that's not true: The video circulating on social media is fabricated, using an AI voiceover to simulate a conversation between Morgan and O'Neill. The Hive Moderation detection tool determined that the video's audio track was 100 percent likely to be AI. A…

Are all disease symptoms the result of the lymphatic system expelling toxins? No, that's not true: Such claims are a "vastly oversimplified concept of how disease in humans occurs," an expert in infectious disease told Lead Stories. Several factors, including exposure to infectious agents, environmental and lifestyle conditions, and genetic predispositions, cause diseases. Though there are some lymphatic system diseases,…

Did a study find that vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) causes an increased likelihood of asthma and eczema? No, that's not true: The study authors did not come up with that conclusion. They said, "Our data suggest that currently recommended routine vaccinations are not a risk factor for asthma or eczema." The claim appeared in a post and…

Did an immunologist accidentally admit that COVID-19 vaccines were intended to sterilize humans, as a video on Instagram implied? No, that's not true: Though the post included genuine footage, it lacked context that makes clear what was meant. Dr. John Bell's comments in an interview were about "sterilizing immunity", a public health term that refers to eradicating a virus from…

Does a homemade concoction made of boiled citrus fruits, root vegetables and herbs prevent COVID-19? No, that's not true: An infectious disease expert told Lead Stories that "there's absolutely no evidence that this will work," and there is no verified scientific study confirming the effectiveness of such a mixture in preventing a person from contracting the virus. He recommended that…

Does the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella cause measles? No, that's not true: The claim on social media ignored basic principles of how these vaccines work. It failed to distinguish between potentially deadly strains of the virus and its weakened version, used in the shots to help healthy populations build immunity against this disease. The claim appeared in a…