Coronavirus

Did the movie, "Captain America: The First Avenger" contain secret clues about the coronavirus years in advance -- proving that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned? No, that's not true: The Times Square advertisements appearing in the background of a movie scene and highlighted with red circles in this meme do not contain a hidden message about a plan for a…

Does the regular use of ivermectin to prevent COVID-19 result in up to a 92 percent reduction in the disease's mortality rate and also reduce infection and hospitalization? No, that's not true: The claims about ivermectin were part of what one expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center called "not a well-constructed study." The claims appeared in a study…

Has the number of excess deaths in Europe gone up a "shocking 691%" in children since the European Medicines Agency (EMA) first approved the COVID vaccine for them? Yes, it's true that the number of excess deaths has gone up some sevenfold, but there's no evidence to support the implied connection between the increase and the start of COVID vaccinations…

Was ivermectin "vindicated (again)" in a peer-reviewed study that showed a 92% reduction in COVID-19 mortality? No, that's not true: The claims about ivermectin were published on an "open science" site where scientists may share findings before they have been vetted by independent experts. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not authorized the use of the anti-parasite drug…

Is ivermectin recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the U.S. government for the treatment of COVID-19 as of September 2022? No, that's not true: Neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Food and Drug Administration recommend the antiparasitic as treatment or prevention. As of this writing, the National Institutes of Health listed ivermectin as…

Is Starbucks "going cashless" regarding payment options for customers as of August 2022? No, that's not true: The article seen in this particular post that includes comments made by the Starbucks CEO fails to disclose that the cashless option was concerning the 2020 pandemic -- not a permanent change to cashless payments at all Starbucks stores. Starbucks also debunked this…

Did 44 percent of pregnant women in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trial have miscarriages? No, that's not true: Author/activist Naomi Wolf incorrectly analyzed public information when making the claim that "out of 50 pregnant women, 22 of them lost their babies." Wolf and two publishers have all retracted the claim, which continued to circulate nonetheless. Jeffrey Morris, professor of biostatistics at…

Are airlines banning travelers who are vaccinated against the coronavirus from flying because the shot elevates their risk for blood clotting? No, that's not true: This rumor has recently resurfaced on social media after being thoroughly debunked when it first emerged in 2021. No publicly available evidence supports the claim airlines were banning the vaccinated as of this writing. This…

Did former NBA star Earvin "Magic" Johnson donate some of his blood in August 2022 to the Red Cross to help underprivileged communities fight COVID-19? No, that's not true: The image of a doctor taking blood from Johnson's arm is from the 2012 PBS Frontline documentary "Endgame: AIDS in Black America." Johnson first learned of his HIV diagnosis after a…

Did the World Economic Forum (WEF) announce the recruitment of "information warriors" to control the narrative on social media? No, that's not true: The WEF has recruited no such people. An article making the claim misrepresents a UN initiative called "Verified," which was launched in May 2020 in an effort to fight misinformation around COVID-19. The article (archived here) was…

Did governments around the world kill 12 million people by giving them COVID-19 shots? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that anywhere near that number of people have died due to vaccination for the disease as of mid-August 2022. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have only identified "nine…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "just dramatically" change their claims about mRNA vaccine safety? No, that's not true: While the public health agency did remove information from a COVID-19 vaccine website that said, "The mRNA and the spike protein do not last long in the body," it doesn't represent "a change to the science of how…

Were 1 in every 25 clients of Germany's largest health insurer, Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), treated for side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021? No, that's not true: Only one of the four diagnosis codes (ICD) for billing health insurers used to come up with the ratio was specific to COVID vaccination. Two of the other three codes could pertain…

Is it fact that viruses have never been isolated and there is no measles virus? No, that's not true: Scientists first isolated a virus in the 1890s. And a Persian doctor published written accounts about measles disease in the late 800s. In 1912, measles became a "nationally notifiable disease" in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control…

Did a study find potentially disease-causing bacteria and fungi on face masks? Yes, that's true, but the study's authors only made one recommendation based on their findings and that was for immunocompromised people to avoid repeated use of masks to prevent infections. In an email to Lead Stories, study author Ah-Mee Park, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology…

Did COVID vaccine trials skip animal testing and go straight to people because all the animals were dying? No, that's not true: In an email to Lead Stories, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said, "The claim is completely false. All authorized and approved COVID-19 vaccines underwent animal studies." The claim appeared in an Instagram post and video on…

Do COVID-19 vaccines create "engineered biostructures" inside human arteries? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that happens. In an email to Lead Stories, Dr. John R. Su with the Immunization Safety Office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, the "CDC is unaware of any evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause the human body to create 'engineered…

Are disposable COVID-19 testing swabs that have been sterilized using ethylene oxide (EO) gas considered carcinogenic and dangerous when used daily? No, that's not true: Only minuscule amounts of EO remain after processing. Matthew J. Arduino, a senior adviser for the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Lead Stories, "Cancer is…

Did three doctors in Canada die after receiving a fourth COVID-19 shot? No, that's not true: There's no evidence any of the men were boosted a second time, but, if they were, there's also no evidence that the vaccinations caused their deaths. At least two of the doctors died from cancer, and the third had been "seriously ill" leading up…

Did the U.S. military find wasp venom in COVID-19 vaccines for children? No, that's not true: As of July 28, 2022, only Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved for people 17 and under in the United States. Neither of them includes the venom of the tarantula hawk wasp, as a published claim states. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson Lisa Lawrence…