Remdesivir

Did Nicole Sirotek get a 4 a.m. call from the husband of a pregnant woman dying of liver failure after she took a large dose of Tylenol to disprove President Donald Trump's declaration that acetaminophen causes autism? Here's what we know: Sirotek, who Lead Stories has previously fact-checked for COVID misinformation, posted the anecdote on social media September 24, 2025,…

Is a 2024 article on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines by Dr. Young Mi Lee, an obstetrician and gynecologist in South Korea, and Daniel Broudy, an applied linguistics professor at Okinawa Christian University in Japan a valid, well-done scientific study? No, that's not true: The article -- titled "Real-Time Self-Assembly of Stereomicroscopically Visible Artificial Constructions in Incubated Specimens of mRNA Products Mainly…

Did the World Health Organization (WHO) say COVID-19 vaccination can cause multiple sclerosis? No, that's not true: WHO has not stated that COVID-19 vaccination can cause multiple sclerosis or any other serious chronic condition. The global public health agency told Lead Stories, "There is no conclusive link between multiple sclerosis (MS) and COVID-19 vaccination." The claim appeared in a post…

Did one in every 35 people who received a Moderna COVID-19 mRNA-1273 booster vaccination suffer myocardial injury? No, that's not true: There is no reliable evidence or data to support this claim. Such a high rate of adverse reactions would be highly unusual and would likely have resulted in widespread concern and investigation. The authors of the study cited to…

Will a new mRNA universal flu vaccine only be tested on 50 volunteers to "assess the safety" of the experimental shot? No, that's not true: New drugs and medicines in the United States go through rigorous testing and three phases of clinical trials involving thousands of people with different health statuses before the products can potentially be authorized for widespread…

Do COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and treatments for the virus come from snake venom and do the vaccines then cause humans to produce venom in their bodies? In addition, is nicotine the "perfect antidote" for COVID, making the vaccines unnecessary? No, none of those things are true: These assertions have no basis in science, infectious disease experts told Lead Stories. The…

Do a paper published in a medical journal and a video based on it prove the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine causes brain and heart damage? No, that's not true: The paper looks at the case of a single elderly man with Parkinson's disease who died weeks after his final vaccination. It doesn't establish a causal link between the vaccine and the…

Does a study released in early 2023 provide conclusive proof that vitamin D greatly reduces the risk of being admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit due to COVID-19? No, that's not true: While vitamin D is known to have a role in the body's immune response, there is "no clear picture of how or if vitamin D should be…

Does remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, cause death? No, that's not true: Remdesivir is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat coronavirus disease. It's prescribed for people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 or are in a high-risk category, such as the elderly or people suffering from autoimmune diseases. It has been rigorously tested in the…

Did the incidence of the heart conditions myocarditis and pericarditis increase nearly eightfold in the English town of Swindon after the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: The numbers, which were released through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, were initially misreported by the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust due to an Excel spreadsheet "formula…