Have 31,000 people died from messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines? No, that's not true: The first mRNA vaccines approved for use in humans are two of the COVID-19 vaccines, which had not been causally linked to any deaths at the time of writing, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The claim appeared in an Instagram post…

Were Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails leaked to the public? No, that's not true: Several media outlets, including The Washington Post, CNN and BuzzFeed News, filed Freedom of Information Act requests to access copies of Fauci's office emails. As Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, courts have held that, barring certain exemptions, public official…

Does a video tell the full and complete truth about adverse events experienced by adolescents in a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial? No, that's not true: It says that 86% of children reported "adverse reactions, ranging from mild to serious," failing to mention that that number represents the percentage of adolescents who reported pain at the injection site after the first…

Did actor Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson reveal her husband's health condition and will he "spend the remainder of his life in and out of hospitals"? No, that's not true: Hanks, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2013 and COVID-19 in 2020, has reportedly managed both diseases. There is no evidence of other health issues facing the actor,…

Does an email addressed to Dr. Anthony Fauci confirm that COVID-19 was man-made? No, that's not true: The email, forwarded to Fauci via public inquiry, states that the virus that causes COVID-19 was created but does not prove that it was. The search for the origin of the virus, at the time this fact check was written, was still under…

Does Dr. Vernon Coleman give proof COVID-19 "jabs should be stopped now"? No, that's not true: He offers no evidence for why the COVID-19 vaccines should be stopped and cites unverified statistics about deaths from the vaccines. As of this writing on June 1, 2021, there have been no documented deaths due to the Pfizer, Moderna or J&J/Janssen vaccines. The…

Did President Joe Biden jail Dr. Anthony Fauci for his "dirty" money to China? No, that's not true: The claim is made in the headline of a video that says nothing about the president jailing the nation's top infectious disease expert. There is no other public evidence supporting the allegation. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published…

Does Dr. Anthony Fauci's private email on masks, dated February 2020, conflict with what he was saying publicly around that time? No, that's not true: His email was consistent with the guidance given then. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, recommendations on masks have evolved as the science on the virus becomes more clear and the situation changes. Health…

Did the U.S. military arrest former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx for her role in deceiving the public about the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19? No, that's not true: The claim is a complete fabrication by a website that has published a series of similar false claims about the military arrests of political…

Do people not need a COVID-19 vaccine because the immune systems of 99% of people who came down with it fought it off without one? No, that's missing context: A 1% fatality rate is not low for an infectious disease, public health experts point out, especially if the disease is as transmissible as COVID. In addition, some groups of people…

Does a video promising to blow the lid off COVID-19 vaccines present only true and verified statements? No, that's not true: It makes claims about vaccine-related deaths that are not proven. The video also questions why pregnant women and people who have recovered from COVID-19 would get the vaccine, ignoring what most medical experts say about those groups. Finally, it…

Did Physicians for Informed Consent correctly interpret the results of the drug trials by which the Janssen/J&J COVID-19 vaccine was approved and did that testing fail to establish whether the vaccine is effective and safer than COVID-19? No, that's not true: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the Janssen vaccine was effective against COVID-19 and that the benefits of…

Are COVID-19 vaccines rewriting patients' DNA, sneaking microchips into people's bodies and causing infertility? No, that's not true: The claims are made without citations to research or other evidence and are directly refuted by public health and medical experts in the relevant specialties. The claims originate in a video (archived here) posted on the BitChute account of WilParanormal on May…

Did the CDC lift mask guidelines "out of the blue with no solid explanation"? No, that's not true: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the rules to allow fully vaccinated individuals to stop wearing masks outdoors and in many indoor settings on May 13, 2021, after COVID-19 case numbers had dropped significantly, more people were getting vaccinated and…

Did the CDC quietly release data showing that 7 out of 10 Americans are declining the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50.1% of the total population, or 166,388,129 people, had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 40.2% of the total population, or 133,532,544 people, were fully…

Does a video back up its claim that Dr. Anthony Fauci had Nobel laureate Kary Mullis murdered to silence the chemist, who often criticized Fauci? No, that's not true: The claim is made without reference to physical or documentary evidence and with one piece of circumstantial evidence that scarcely deserves that label. Mullis' unchallenged obituaries say he died of pneumonia.…

Does a new study confirm the COVID-19 vaccine is not 95% effective? No, that's not true: It's not a study at all but a comment in The Lancet, and it says vaccines do work at a high efficiency level, the author told Lead Stories. The claim appeared as an Instagram post (archived here) on May 26, 2021. It opened: "@TheLancet…

Does a video about COVID-19 present only factual and proven statements about the disease and the COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: It recycles claims that have been disproven and leaves out important context. For example, the video alleges that the vaccines aren't really vaccines, that they're experimental, that certain therapies exist to prevent COVID-19 and that the PCR tests…

Did Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier say that all vaccinated people will die within two years? No, that's not true: Montagnier, a prominent virologist, is a Nobel Prize winner who in recent years has said some controversial things, but he did not say this. Montagnier was interviewed by Pierre Barnérias, the director of an anti-vaccine conspiracy documentary produced by Hold-Up Media…

Does the American Red Cross say you cannot donate blood plasma if you've had the vaccine because the vaccine wipes out the body's natural antibodies? No, that's not true: The COVID-19 vaccine does not override or change the body, according to an infectious disease specialist. And the medical director of the American Red Cross says in most cases the organization…