Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) change a COVID-19 risk assessment map ahead of President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on March 1, 2022, to make it look better for the administration? No, that's not true: The maps being shared side-by-side on social media illustrate different aspects of the pandemic and use different color schemes…

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"…

Do fully vaccinated people account for nine in every 10 COVID-19 deaths in England? Yes, it's slightly exaggerated but true: However, simple ratio analysis based on that statistic doesn't fully tell the story. The report that these figures come from warns on Page 45 that "Comparing case rates among vaccinated and unvaccinated populations should not be used to estimate vaccine…

Will Ottawa euthanize truckers' pets as punishment for the convoy protest? No, that's not true: Pets were not threatened with death as a punishment for protesters getting arrested in Canada. A message was posted to Ottawa's animal control service Twitter account on February 17, 2022, telling demonstrators not to bring pets to the protest because they would be taken from…

Do data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show mass vaccinations have had no measurable impact on COVID-19 mortality in the United States? No, that's not true: There are multiple reports and peer-reviewed studies showing a dramatic and measurable reduction of disease and death rates among the vaccinated when compared to the unvaccinated and that did have…

Does this video provide factual proof that COVID-19 vaccines interfere with human reproduction, cause cancer and are ineffective? No, that's not true: Peer-reviewed and evidence-based information from qualified scientists has disproved those claims, which are made using faulty data and by reference to anecdotal information that would not pass muster as the basis for consequential public health decision-making, which relies…

Did the New Mexico National Guard "terrorize" schoolchildren? No, that's not true: An official representative of the Estancia School District told Lead Stories, "this event never happened." A New Mexico National Guardsman tells Lead Stories this information is," false." Also, this claim was made on a self-described satirical website whose disclaimer says it publishes articles like this one for "entertainment…

Did the death rate of working-age Americans rise 40 percent from the summer of 2019 to the summer of 2021? Yes, there has been a sharp rise. Is the COVID-19 pandemic not the cause? There is no basis to blame it on anything other than the pandemic. The simple comparison of summer 2019 to summer 2021 does not account for…

Did Public Health Scotland (PHS) stop publishing weekly COVID-19 data to hide that fully vaccinated people are developing AIDS? No, that's not true: The agency said it's because of an "increasing risk of misinterpretation." COVID skeptics and anti-vaccine activists have used PHS numbers out of context to mislead. COVID vaccines boost the ability of our bodies to fight coronavirus. AIDS…

Is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collecting DNA through COVID-19 test samples? No, that's not true: The CDC published a tweet on February 16, 2022, that stated that if a person took a COVID nose swab test there was "a 10% chance that it ended up in a lab for genomic sequencing analysis." The following day, February 17,…

Did a news report accidentally reveal that doctors are giving a "banned" COVID-19 treatment to Queen Elizabeth? No, that's not true: Due to an editing error, the Australian program "A Current Affair" featured a clip showing a bottle of Stromectol, a brand name for ivermectin, along with the intended clip of Sotrovimab. The error was acknowledged and clarified on the…

Do healthy children "never ever" get severe COVID-19 and do mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 undermine children's immune systems, putting them at risk for other infectious diseases? No, that's not true: Pediatric infectious disease researchers have documented multiple cases of previously healthy children infected with COVID-19 and hospitalized in intensive care units, says a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Johns…

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…

Does this article provide a correct comparison between the severity of myocarditis cases caused by COVID vaccines and those resulting from COVID-19 illness? No, that's not true: It gets the comparison backward. Myocarditis experts say cases of inflammation of the heart muscle caused by COVID infection are significantly worse and far more common. A founder of the Myocarditis Foundation, Mayo…

Did scientists fraudulently claim that they had isolated and sequenced viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19? No, that's not true: The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been independently isolated and sequenced by multiple scientists around the world since January 7, 2020. Claims that the virus has never been isolated have circulated since vaccines for COVID-19 were introduced in early 2020, including in…

Were there empty ATMs and locked funds at all of the "Big Five" Canadian banks on February 17, 2022? No, that's not true: The claims are "baseless," the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) told Lead Stories. The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) confirmed it was experiencing trouble with online banking services on February 16, 2022, but there is no evidence that…

Did a grand jury charge Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, with murder? No, that's not true: No legally recognized grand jury has been convened to indict Fauci on any charges. The fake court proceeding previously identified itself as the "Grand Jury of the World Criminal Court." No government recognizes the "World…

Does Canada discriminate against the phoneless by requiring proof of vaccinations with a printed QR code? No, that's not true: Paper copies of the proof of vaccination QR code are acceptable; they do not have to be on a phone to show proof of vaccination. The claim appeared in a video from a Facebook post (archived here) on February 8,…

Was the on-air spell suffered by German reporter Clara Pfeffer caused by the COVID-19 vaccine, as some social media posts suggest? No, that's not true: Pfeffer became disoriented during a live broadcast of the RTL News morning show, "ntv-Frühstart" ("Early Start"). She recovered soon after. Later that day she wrote in a tweet that in the future she would have…

Did The Lancet publish a medical professor's warning that natural immunity has made vaccine mandates irrelevant? No, that's not true: The professor cited never uses the word "irrelevant" in his letter to the British medical journal but he does say there are "compelling arguments against such unilateral mandates." It's important to note that the professor is specifically talking about health…