&Quot;Brazil&Quot;

Did a Brazilian city cut hospitalizations and mortality in half after offering everyone ivermectin before COVID-19 vaccinations were available? No, that's not true: City officials in Itajai, Brazil, rebut the draft study, saying less than 10% of the 130,000+ people who started the Itajai health department's regimen of the antiparasitic medication continued taking the doses until the end. The much…

Did a 91-year-old woman find out that she had been pregnant for 60 years when she visited the doctor? Yes and no: the story of the rare health condition of an elderly woman from La Boca, Chile is true, but it is presented in a misleading way. In June 2015 the story about the very rare calcified fetus (or lithopedion)…

Have no politicians died from COVID-19? No, that's not true: Various politicians have died from the disease, both in the United States and around the world. They are not immune. Among the politicians who have died are Herman Cain, a former presidential candidate; Ron Wright, a congressman from Texas, and Carlos Holmes Trujillo, Colombia's defense minister. The claim appeared in…

At Lead Stories we are always open to trying out new technologies and methods when it comes to fact checking. The only way to truly know if something works or not is to try it out. Which is why we are happy to announce we have chosen to participate in a new initiative that seeks to explore if trading representations…

Did a buff father who "identifies as the tooth fairy" knock the teeth out of a man pretending to identify as a woman who followed his daughter into a public restroom? No, that's not true: The meme is a mash-up of fabricated events that mock transgender women, attached to an authentic photo of a protective father. The memes featuring this…

Will taking a COVID-19 vaccine kill you or lead to "debilitating" illness? No, that's not true: There is an abundance of evidence to the contrary. For one, between the two farthest along and most robust vaccine trials out of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, there have already been tens of thousands of people administered the vaccine and not one person has died…

Does this group photo of women with prosthetic limbs depict female veterans who were wounded in battle? No, that's not true: These Brazilian women were gathered to model for a photoshoot that was part of a campaign by a prosthetics company. The photos were for a 2016 calendar intended to raise money to pay for prosthetics for people in need,…

Is the Santos Dumont Airport runway only 1,300 feet long? No, that's not true: The runway was 1,300 feet long back in 1934 when the airport was first being developed. The runway size was increased with improvements over time and currently the main runway is 4,340 feet long. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) posted on Facebook on…

Have other countries proved the U.S. Food and Drug Administration endangered thousands of lives by withdrawing approval of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19? No, that's not true: The findings of clinical studies in the U.S. and overseas show the anti-malarial drug is ineffective against COVID-19. The anti-abortion website saying otherwise bases its claim on an essay published by a…

Did Joe Biden completely botch the Pledge of Allegiance during a campaign speech? No, that's not true and the comments were taken out of context. GOP rapid response director Steve Guest claimed that Biden "completely botches" the pledge during a campaign speech in a tweet that went viral. The Democratic nominee for president was criticizing Donald Trump and saying he…