Covid-19 Vaccine

Did the British journalist Piers Morgan reveal that he has developed Vaccine Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (VAIDS) and blamed it on the anti-vaccination community? No, that's not true: Morgan never said that he has VAIDS, which is not a real medical condition. This claim was made without supporting evidence by a prolific publisher of fake news. The article (archived here)…

Did Cambridge scientists "admit" that 25 percent of people vaccinated for COVID-19 now have "vaccine acquired immune deficiency syndrome"? No, that's not true: The scientific report that the claim is purportedly based on never mentions the term VAIDS or vaccine-acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which is not a recognized medical condition. Pfizer Media Relations stated that the online claim is "out…

Did Moderna admit that its COVID-19 mRNA vaccines cause cancer? No, that's not true: Moderna made no such admission that its COVID mRNA vaccines are contaminated, nor that that they cause cancer or birth defects. There is no publicly available credible evidence that any mRNA vaccines cause cancer, a doctor of infectious disease told Lead Stories. A "study" the cancer…

Did Iceland ban COVID-19 vaccinations? No, that's not true: The Nordic nation has not banned COVID vaccines as of this publication and was actually encouraging at-risk populations to maintain a recommended vaccine schedule. Social media users and publications that pushed the false information regarding a ban did not provide verifiable evidence to support or corroborate the claim. Lead Stories determined…

Did nurse Tiffany Dover disappear from the public eye and stay silent after she fainted after receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: She has public social media accounts where she posted in the weeks after getting the shot, several times in 2021 and throughout 2023. Dover spoke publicly about fainting after the COVID vaccine in a video…

Does the listing of "Pneumonia mycoplasma" in Pfizer's guidance on adverse event reports associated with its COVID-19 vaccine prove that the shot caused a respiratory outbreak in China? No, that's not true: It's a fundamental misreading of standard vaccine documents, which direct doctors to rapidly report any problems from a long list as a precaution. The Centers for Disease Control…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin order "the destruction of a Kyiv pharmaceutical laboratory suspected of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines" owned by Farmak, one of Ukraine's major companies selling medical products, in November 2023? No, that's not true: The company's warehouse near Kyiv had been burned down roughly a year and a half earlier. It happened during the early stages of the…

Is the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine "contaminated" with a type of DNA that causes permanent genetic changes in vaccinated people or leads to death due to cardiac arrest? No, that's not true: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Lead Stories that residual DNA found in Pfizer's COVID shot has produced "no safety concerns." Additionally, an infectious disease expert said…

Does data pulled from the Adverse Event Reporting System and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System prove that COVID-19 vaccines have caused more than 1.4 million adverse events and over 32,000 deaths as of November 25, 2022? No, that's not true: The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, known as VAERS, is a government database of negative health reactions to vaccines…

Did 80 percent of COVID-19 patients put on ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic die? No, that's not true: A Johns Hopkins public health expert told Lead Stories that "80% is high," adding that the actual number is "around 30-40%." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed that such deaths are far less than 80 percent. Ventilators are used for…