Coronavirus

Did celebrities call for a "total Hollywood strike" until everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19? No, that's not true: The claim, posted by a prolific publisher of fake news, is based on a fake tweet purportedly from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. An Academy representative told Lead Stories it is not their tweet. The claim appeared in an…

Did the U.S. government say that 5G causes COVID-19? No, that's not true: The study cited by the article making the claim was retracted several years earlier. The Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents made the retraction following "a thorough investigation ... as it showed evidence of substantial manipulation of the peer review." The claim appeared in an article…

Does a collection of video clips show people "dropping suddenly" because of the COVID vaccine? No, that's not true: Almost all of the clips in a post making that implication predate the vaccine, meaning there is no way the people seen stumbling or fainting in the videos did so as a result of the shot. The claim appeared in a…

Did a medical expert named Dr. Derek Knauss (or Knaus) prove that 1,500 COVID-19 diagnostic tests did not actually contain traces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but did test positive for influenza A and B? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence that any such research has taken place or been published in a reputable scientific journal. Extensive searches…

Do pictures from former President Donald Trump's and President Joe Biden's inaugural ceremonies represent an adequate comparison between the respective popularity of the two presidents? No, that's not true: The photos were taken under dramatically different circumstances, making such a comparison irrelevant. Unlike Trump's inauguration, which was more in line with standard protocol for presidential inaugurations, Biden's inaugural committee had…

Did the German government claim that investigating COVID vaccines would be "dangerous for democracy"? No, that's not true: Alena Buyx, who is not in the German government, did not claim that such investigations would be a threat to democracy. She is a German medical ethicist who since 2020 has been chair of the German Ethics Council, an independent group of…

Does a video circulating on social media prove that the Social Security Administration (SSA) headquarters in Maryland was abandoned and "nobody works there" as of January 2023? No, that's not true: The clip was shot in 2022, during a COVID-related temporary suspension of operations in the building. As of January 23, 2023, the building is "open and fully operational," the…

Did CNN publish a news article that linked Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's on-field collapse to the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the news network confirmed to Lead Stories by email that the media outlet never published such a story. A widely shared social media post featured an altered photograph of an original CNN headline. The…

Did the chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) call for an immediate end to COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: The head of the FDA is Dr. Robert M. Califf and he is not mentioned in the article where the claim appears. The story instead refers to Dr. Paul Offit, who is a member of the FDA's vaccine…

Did Microsoft founder Bill Gates tweet about forcing COVID-19 vaccinations on people by injecting mRNA into their food supply? No, that's not true: A search of Gates' Twitter account reveals the tweet is fake. The claim appeared in an article published by NewsPunch on January 10, 2023, titled "Bill Gates Vows To Pump mRNA Into Food Supply To 'Force-Jab' the…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) find a link between the Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine and strokes in the elderly? No, that's not true: The U.S. public health agencies did detect a possible safety signal for people 65 and older with the Pfizer shot, but the CDC said, "data currently…

Does remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, cause death? No, that's not true: Remdesivir is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat coronavirus disease. It's prescribed for people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 or are in a high-risk category, such as the elderly or people suffering from autoimmune diseases. It has been rigorously tested in the…

Did Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), ban "vaccinated pilots from transporting World Economic Forum members in and out of Davos due to the safety risk they pose"? No, there's no evidence that's true: The supposed source for the claim denies that he said the WEF had reached out looking for unvaccinated pilots. He…

Was Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), hospitalized after a bad reaction to a vaccine and does that mean he will not be speaking at the World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland, in mid-January 2023? No, that's not true: The site putting out the story has a disclaimer that says it publishes…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admit that COVID-19 vaccines were created as part of a "depopulation kill plan"? No, that's not true: The CDC has never described COVID vaccine programs as a "depopulation plan." There is no record of the health agency having made this statement, and an article claiming as much did not cite any…

Does a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study prove the Pfizer COVID vaccine increases the risk of lung blood clots in the elderly by 50 percent? No, that's not true: The study does not establish a causal relationship between the vaccine and the adverse event in people 65 and older, the FDA told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in…

Do health data from the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) show the more doses of COVID-19 vaccine a person has had, the more likely they are to end up in the intensive care unit (ICU)? No, that's not true: Health officials and medical experts contacted by Lead Stories said the figures do not take into account the number…

Did "adverse vaccine reaction" become the leading cause of U.S. deaths in 2021 and 2022? No, that's not true: Adverse vaccine reactions are not a categorical cause of death tracked by health officials. Also, the vaccination status and records of deceased individuals are not tracked. In both 2021 and 2022, experts told Lead Stories that the leading cause of death…

Did the COVID-19 vaccine cause Canadian reporter Jessica Robb to stumble on air? No, there's no evidence that's true: Robb, a CTV News journalist who appeared to suffer a medical emergency while reporting live on air, has said that what happened was "in no way related to the COVID-19 vaccine." She added: "While I will not share private medical information…

Has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded more than 16,000 people who have died within a few days of taking the COVID-19 vaccine where the deaths were proven to have been caused by the vaccine? No, that's not true: Only nine deaths of some 18,500 preliminary reports of death have been causally associated with vaccination for coronavirus.…