Coronavirus

Does a draft of a World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic treaty supplant U.S. sovereignty, giving the international organization the authority to dictate American policies? No, that's not true: Nothing in the draft states the U.S. will lose its sovereignty. In fact, the draft says the opposite by "[r]eaffirming the principle of sovereignty of States Parties in addressing public health matters,…

Are vaccines proven ineffective by a U.K. report published in February 2023, which found that 92 percent of "deaths involving COVID-19" occurred in fully vaccinated individuals? No, that's not true: Implying causality from a limited set of data leaves out consequential variables such as the ages of the dead, other underlying diseases, and whether booster recommendations had been followed. While…

Do gene editing mRNA vaccine patent holders own vaccinated people outright once injected, and does mRNA alter natural human DNA? No, that's not true: A Stanford University professor of law specializing in bioethics told Lead Stories that these claims are "too absurd even to be wrong." Also, many credible medical organizations have debunked the claim that mRNA vaccines alter the…

Does a line graph in a peer-reviewed medical study published by The Lancet show that the oral anti-COVID-19 medication Paxlovid starts working before the patient ingests it? No, that's not true: The lead author of the study told Lead Stories that blue and orange lines on the graph start at zero, which is the origin of the graph's X-axis (horizontal…

Can 49 percent of COVID-19 vaccine ingredients produced under emergency use authorization (EUA) be changed without telling the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? No, that's not true: Even very small changes to a vaccine must be reported to the regulatory agency. A member of the FDA's vaccine advisory panel said such a notion about vaccines could only come from "someone…

Do a paper published in a medical journal and a video based on it prove the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine causes brain and heart damage? No, that's not true: The paper looks at the case of a single elderly man with Parkinson's disease who died weeks after his final vaccination. It doesn't establish a causal link between the vaccine and the…

Did the U.S. military arrest vaccine scientist Richard Tillyer for "accessory to mass murder and negligent homicide" in regards to the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: The U.S. military does not have the authority to arrest civilians outside of certain circumstances authorized by an act of Congress. The claim was made on Real Raw News, a website that publishes…

Did a research paper adequately demonstrate that vaccinated COVID-19 patients die at a higher rate than their unvaccinated counterparts? No, that's not true: The study in question has limitations that affect the quality of its conclusions. Furthermore, the study is published in a preprint journal and as of this writing has not been critiqued by scientific experts familiar with the…

Does a picture circulating on social media prove that Pfizer has a patent "for tracking vaccinated humans worldwide via microwave and graphene"? No, that's not true: The pictured document is not a Pfizer patent and it does not mention graphene or microwaves. Pfizer's office of media relations confirmed to Lead Stories that Pfizer has nothing to do with the patent,…

Do vaccines make children allergic to nuts? No, that's not true: There is no known association between childhood vaccines and these sorts of allergic reactions. An assistant professor of pediatrics in allergy and immunology called the notion "anti-vaccine rhetoric." The claim appeared in a post on Instagram published on February 14, 2023, with the description "A little Valentine's Day poetry…

Did Bill Gates create computer viruses and infect Microsoft computers to then sell antivirus software programs? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that either Gates or his company deliberately created and spread computer viruses, and a spokesperson from Gates' private office confirmed to Lead Stories that such a claim is false. Creeper, the first experimental self-replicating computer virus, was…

Does the United Kingdom forbid COVID boosters for healthy people? No, that's not true: A representative of the U.K. Health Security Agency (HSA) called the notion "nonsense." February 12, 2023, marked the end in the U.K. of the autumn booster campaign, which was the first time boosters were offered to everyone under 50 regardless of their health status. A separate…

Is ALC-0315, an ingredient in Pfizer's COVID vaccine, unsafe? No, that's not true: A claim to the contrary relies on a misunderstanding and misapplication of a safety data sheet, which was created in the context of occupational safety for those handling large amounts or high concentrations -- not the small amounts in a therapeutic product -- according to experts consulted…

Did Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, director of the Immunization Safety Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), admit COVID-19 vaccines are causing "debilitating illnesses"? No, that's not true: In the context of talking about unverified data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) on COVID vaccine side effects, Shimabukuro acknowledged "reports of people experiencing long-lasting health problems,"…

Does having sex with men vaccinated for COVID-19 cause menstrual cycle problems in unvaccinated women and do Pfizer documents confirm this? No, that's not true: The vaccine elements can't be spread from person to person, either through intercourse or through general proximity, a process called "shedding," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website says. Also, Pfizer documents make…

Is Pfizer spelled backward -- Rezifp -- the god of the plague and the underworld? No, that's not true: Rezifp has no meaning. The god of the underworld that social media posts are referring to is spelled Resheph. Pfizer, Inc. is named after Charles Pfizer, who founded the biotech and pharmaceutical company, then named Charles Pfizer & Company, in 1849.…

Did Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel admit that the company produced 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2019 before the pandemic began? No, that's not true: A video snippet shared to social media does not make it clear Bancel is saying his company had manufactured 100,000 vaccines for all diseases in 2019, not those targeting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 --…

Did the government of Thailand announce plans to cancel COVID-19 vaccine contracts with Pfizer-BioNTech after a suspected connection between the Pfizer vaccine and Princess Bajrakitiyabha's December 2022 collapse was established? No, that's not true: An official from Thailand's National Vaccine Institute told the Associated Press on February 7, 2023, that the country does not intend to reconsider its contract with…

Does a new paper published in BMJ Medicine show that the COVID vaccine causes five times more myocarditis than the COVID virus and 10 times more in young people? No, that's not true: One of the study's authors told Lead Stories in a February 6, 2023, email that it's "an incorrect way to interpret our study." The paper only shows…

Do pandemics happen every 100 years? No, that's not true: A post making the claim cherry-picks disease outbreaks, excluding obvious examples. It also misrepresents basic facts about the pandemics it does list, including the years in which the outbreaks began. The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) published January 20, 2023. It included a short slideshow of images…