Does a comparison of January 2022 case rates for the unvaccinated and the vaccinated in Scotland prove that refusing vaccination improves Scots' odds of avoiding infection, hospitalization and death from COVID-19? No, that's not true: A gross comparison of the two groups does not account for important differences between those two groups other than their vaccination status. For instance, the…

Is an image of a mannequin missing an arm in a French hospital, with the image made to appear part of a TV news report about COVID-19, real? No, that's not true: This image is a photoshopped combination of two separate screenshots. A representative of the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute at Laval University (IUCPQ) confirmed with Lead Stories that…

Did Dr. Robert Malone correctly claim in a speech that COVID-19 vaccines are not working, that they cause infertility and that vaccine makers are protected legally while families are not? No, that's not true: The vaccines have prevented serious illness and death for millions. Studies have shown the vaccines do not cause infertility and there is a compensation system for…

When you exclude people who have died in nursing homes and those who died with at least four comorbidities, are there only 28,000 people a year in the United States dying "from" COVID-19? No, that's not true: As of the week ending January 22, 2022, that total for the pandemic was 861,792, according to the CDC's National Center for Health…

Did Dr. Kerry Chant, the New South Wales, Australia, chief health officer, post a tweet that dismissed the deaths of three children while celebrating a "better than expected" result of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout for children? No, that's not true: This is a fabricated tweet. Chant did not tweet this, and the claims in the fake tweet are false. A…

Did two 7-year-old Australian children, Allison Coleman and Lachlan Leary, both die shortly after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in the week the COVID vaccines were being rolled out in New South Wales to children in the 5- to 11-year-old age bracket? No, that's not true: Other than the social media posts that put the stories into circulation, there is no…

Have only three drugs "ever been subject to the Nobel Prize because of their impact on human lives"? No, that's not true: At least four Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists for inventing drugs that have had a "significant impact on human lives." The claim originated in a Facebook post (archived here) on December 5, 2021. It opened with:…

Are COVID-19 vaccines growing new variants inside the bodies of vaccinated people? No, that's not true: The virus that causes COVID constantly changes through a natural ongoing process of mutation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has nothing to do with the vaccine. The CDC also says the COVID vaccine shots do not create or cause…

Did the United Kingdom admit the COVID-19 vaccine damages the natural immune system? No, that's not true: The claim in the National Daily Newspaper misconstrues information in the COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report - Week 42 by the UK Health Security Agency published on October 21, 2021. The report doesn't suggest the immune system is compromised by the COVID vaccine and…

Is the purpose of COVID-19 vaccines to "kill off a large proportion of the population"? No, there's no evidence that's true: The idea stems from a sprawling conspiracy theory that alternately posits COVID, the vaccines or both as being manufactured with the goal of depopulating Earth. The claim was made by "Dr. Shankara Chetty" during a video interview (archived here)…

Do the number of fully vaccinated people who are hospitalized outnumber unvaccinated hospitalized in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW)? Yes, that's true: But simple ratios don't tell the full story. The figures are found in the COVID-19 weekly surveillance report by NSW Health published on January 20, 2022. The proportion of unvaccinated people who end up hospitalized…

Do COVID-19 vaccines contain 81 strands of bacteria and HIV? No, that's not true: A video showing a masked woman making false claims about COVID vaccines is an altered audio-and-video package from a real interview done by VICE Media with a medical professional, then dubbed over with audio from a Canadian organization that published an interview with a "natural doctor."…

Have just 50,000 people in the United States died from "COVID-ONLY" during the pandemic? No, that's not true: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counts COVID deaths as cases where COVID-19 was the immediate cause of death. As of the week ending January 15, 2022, that total was 848,403, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.…

Do some mouthwashes "disrupt" COVID-19 in the lab? Yes, that's true in a lab, but it's not a field-tested cure and researchers say it needs more study. The report by Rutgers University scientists, published March 1, 2021, shows two types of mouthwash "reduce virus infectivity" in the laboratory -- Listerine and the prescription Chlorhexidine (CHG). Neither the World Health Organization…

Did researchers discover "various foreign objects" -- like worms hatching from eggs -- in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: None of the listed ingredients in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine are intentionally harmful. The claim, which originated in this article published January 8, 2022, by the RAIR Foundation, reappeared in an article (archived here) published by Liberty Planet…

Do respirator masks prescribed to reduce viral spread contain nano-robot parasites called Morgellons? No, that's not true: "Nano" describes structures one billionth of a meter across, which makes the video images impossible, since it shows a fingertip alongside the purported nano-bot. Scientists have been unable to verify the existence of any parasite that could be causing "Morgellons Disease," which the…

Did the Washington State Board of Health adopt a rule that would involuntarily place unvaccinated residents, including children, into COVID-19 quarantine camps? No, that's not true: The board made an administrative rule change to the law that governs the state's handling of HIV and some other communicable diseases. The rules do not apply to COVID. The claim began circulating on…

Did an MIT scientist prove that the COVID-19 vaccines have possible long-term side effects? No, that's not true: The "scientist" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a computer scientist who offered no proof that the COVID-19 vaccines have possible side effects when she appeared on Laura Ingraham's FOX News show but instead repeated multiple false claims about spike proteins…

Did author and self-proclaimed naturopathic practitioner Robert O. Young present legitimate testimony that admits that governments are using medicine to "exterminate" Black people? No, that's not true: The International Tribunal for Natural Justice (ITNJ) is not a real court of law and the statements made by Young in his "testimony" are not based in fact. The claim, which has made…

Did the Make-A-Wish Foundation refuse to grant a 4-year-old cancer patient a wish because he is not vaccinated? That's not true: The charity's medical team had ruled out air travel and large group settings for unvaccinated and critically ill children, which is why the charity's staff asked the boy to make a wish other than flying his family to Disney…