South Africa

Are over 100,000 children in serious condition because of COVID-19? No, that's not true: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor overstated the pandemic's toll on children 17 and under during Supreme Court oral arguments on January 7, 2022. As of that date, fewer than 85,000 people ages 0 to 17 had been admitted to the hospital during the whole pandemic because…

Does the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination do more harm than good? No, that's not true: The video by the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA) in the Rumble post saying so recycles many previously debunked claims about the COVID vaccine. The Pfizer shot (BNT162b2) received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 23, 2021, for people 16 and…

Does a study say vaccinated people are more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than those who don't get the shot? No, that's not true: One of the study's co-authors says the writer of an article about their work got it wrong. "Interpretation that our research is evidence of anything but a protective vaccine effect is misrepresentation," said Dr. Palle…

Can a bee sting to the penis permanently enlarge it? No, that's not true: The story was originally put out in November 2019 (archived here) by a South African satire website named Ihlaya News that previously disguised itself as news and got widely picked up by English-language websites in Africa that didn't realize the source of the story was a…

Does a book titled "Understanding Omicron Variant" by an author named Dr. Theresa Bishop have a 2020 copyright date, meaning it was published before the omicron variant was publicly identified? No, that's not true: This Amazon book was self-published on December 15, 2021, nearly a month after the omicron variant was officially identified in November 2021. No information is available…

Was the definition of what constitutes a positive COVID-19 test changed to include the omicron variant? No, that's not true: The variant (SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.529) was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa on November 24, 2021. And while one widely used COVID PCR test sometimes misses one of the three key target genes, such a result can…

Does Vermont, with its nation-leading vaccination rate, also have the highest rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents? No, that's not true: Vermont ranks first in vaccination rates and 49th in rate of COVID cases. The claim has circulated on social media, including in this December 2, 2021, Facebook video (archived here) posted to the Charlie Kirk account under the…

Does the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 contain HIV or AIDS? No, that's not true: Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, and Benjamin Neuman, a professor of biology and chief virologist at Texas A&M University, told us that it may have originated in someone who may have HIV/AIDS because of the prominence of…

Did travel restrictions for unvaccinated individuals in Australia make it impossible for the omicron variant to enter the country? No, that's not true: Unvaccinated individuals can enter the country by following the guidelines of the state where they arrive. They can leave the country by applying for a travel exemption. Vaccinated Australians -- who could travel freely before the emergence…

Do fully vaccinated people account for four in every five recent COVID-19 deaths in the UK? Yes, that's true: But simple ratio analysis based on that statistic doesn't tell the story fully. The figures are found in the COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report - Week 47 by the UK Health Security Agency published on November 25, 2021. That report warns users…