Medicine

Did South African trauma surgeon Dr. Vicky Jennings die after "suffering a sudden heart attack" related to COVID-19 vaccination, as implied by social media posts? No, that's not true: Jennings' colleague and head of department told Lead Stories that he can "unequivocally confirm that her death was in no way related to vaccination." A medico-legal autopsy required by law in…

Were COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by military contractors rather than by Pfizer and Moderna? No, that's not true: FDA inspection records show the vaccines were made in drug industry labs. Pfizer pointed Lead Stories to publicly available documents about its facilities in Belgium, Germany and at least two locations in the U.S., including Kalamazoo, Michigan. Under Operation Warp Speed, the government…

Do vaccinations cause liver flukes in the human stomach? No, that's not true: Vaccine experts contacted by Lead Stories called the notion "science fiction" and "nonsense." Liver flukes are parasites you can get from eating contaminated food like raw fish or certain plants. Vaccines are safe, tested treatments that protect you from diseases and have nothing to do with parasites.…

Does a viral video offer evidence that children's faces are being "harvested" in China or anywhere in the world to be transplanted onto female recipients trying to look younger? No, that's not true: Both Mandarin subtitles and original voice-overs in the video discussed facelifts -- a much more common surgical procedure that doesn't require any other person's face. Face transplants…

Does a video on social media show a woman named Alexis Lorenze suffering a typical reaction to DTaP, meningitis and pneumonia vaccines? No, that's not true: An expert contacted by Lead Stories said he has "seen this many times" in patients diagnosed with the same rare blood disorder Lorenze claims to have. Another expert stated that Lorenze's physical response to…

Are Apple-A-Day buckets of horse electrolytes safe for human consumption, as a post on X claimed? No, that's not true: The company that produces Apple-A-Day buckets has stated it has not been tested for humans and that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved it for human consumption. A nutritionist told Lead Stories that people should not take animal…

Does a viral video capture "Bosnian neighbors" roasting a dog in their backyard in the U.S.? No, that's not true: A Cornell University professor of veterinary medicine told Lead Stories that what is seen in the years-old footage does not show dog or even carnivore anatomy, speculating it could be a lamb or a goat. The video recycled an old…

Does taking a shower prevent the skin from absorbing vitamin D from sunlight? No, that's not true: Medical experts confirmed to Lead Stories that vitamin D is made in living cells in the skin and thus cannot be washed off. The person giving this advice is Barbara O'Neill, a controversial naturopath who was banned from practice in Australia. The claim…

Is a 2024 article on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines by Dr. Young Mi Lee, an obstetrician and gynecologist in South Korea, and Daniel Broudy, an applied linguistics professor at Okinawa Christian University in Japan a valid, well-done scientific study? No, that's not true: The article -- titled "Real-Time Self-Assembly of Stereomicroscopically Visible Artificial Constructions in Incubated Specimens of mRNA Products Mainly…

Is milk chocolate "fine" to feed dogs, while dark chocolate is toxic for them? No, that's not true: A professor told Lead Stories that both kinds of chocolate are toxic for dogs. Milk chocolate has less of the toxic compound in chocolate, theobromine, than dark chocolate but it does have it. The Food and Drug Administration does not recommend feeding…