Are COVID-19 vaccines hidden in salad greens? No, that's not true: There's no publicly available evidence salad greens are being spiked with any sort of vaccine and the claim was made without supporting evidence. Research being done by scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and elsewhere seeks to produce vaccine components using plants. They're looking at whether they…

Did the New England Journal of Medicine backtrack and admit the COVID-19 vaccine may not be safe for pregnant women? No, that's not true: An update posted by the Journal did not change the number of pregnancies a study found resulted in a spontaneous abortion after receiving the COVID vaccine; the number remained the same from the study published in…

Did a funeral director from Milton Keynes, England, make a case that the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax, or that it is caused by the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: O'Looney's conspiracy theories defy logic and are readily dismissed with publicly available information. His interview, dated September 16, 2021, has been mirrored on many video platforms. One example was…

Did a leading German medical doctor prove that 80% of those in the official tally of COVID-19 victims died of something else? No, that's not true: The claim relies on a newspaper interview in which Dr. Bertram Haussler was speculating about July and August of 2021 data collected for Germany's health officials. The newspaper has since revised its headline, but…

Is a meme correct in implying that there is no scientific proof behind the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of vaccines? No, that's not true: The FDA provides publicly available documentation on its website for each of the three COVID-19 vaccines that have already been widely distributed, including memoranda that detail scientific proof through clinical studies to support its…

Did the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) redact a COVID-19 vaccine ingredient because it's a mysterious substance that the public shouldn't know about? No, that's not true: The redacted ingredient is salt water. A spokesperson for the FDA told Lead Stories that if the company considers the ingredient a trade secret or a confidential commercial item, the ingredient gets redacted…

Does this video of an air quality monitor's danger signal prove it is unhealthy to wear one of the surgical masks recommended to slow the spread of COVID-19? No, that's not true: The screen on the gadget in the video, according to the user manual and an instructional video for the Honeywell device, indicates either a fault with the device…

Did a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee say, "We are killing more people than we are saving with the shots"? No, that's not true: A member of the public said this. The comment was made during the public testimony portion of the advisory committee meeting. The person who said that, Steve…

Did the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) share private data with county health officials in Kentucky to target individuals for COVID-19 vaccination? No, that's not true: the Census Bureau and the CDC responded to Lead Stories' inquiry to say it cannot and did not share personal census information with any other agency.The claim…

Does putting hydrogen peroxide in a nebulizer help the user's body fight pathogens? No, that's not true: Such a practice is not only ineffective, but dangerous, according to information from medical organizations. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on September 16, 2021. The post has a picture of a woman using a nebulizer, which is commonly used…

Did the Romanian government close all vaccine centers because 70% of "epic" resistance from citizens? No, that's not true: The claim offers as proof a video taken at a 2017 political protest in Bucharest that had nothing to do with the virus or vaccines. The Romanian government released a statement saying that the vaccine centers were temporarily closed and would…

Did General Dynamics reject the vaccine mandate from the federal government after 40% of its employees threatened to walk away if the mandate was implemented? No, that's not true: A General Dynamics spokesperson said that the claim is untrue and the company has yet to make an announcement about a vaccine mandate for its employees. The spokesperson added that General…

Is Denmark getting rid of its COVID-19 restrictions? Yes, most of Denmark's previous COVID-19 restrictions are lifted; however, some preventive measures are still being implemented in the country, which has a high vaccination rate compared to the United States. The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) published on August 22, 2021. It featured an image with text that…

Did an Idaho doctor trained in skin-test analysis prove his claims that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine weakens the immune system and seems to be causing cancer? No, that's not true: The claims are supported only by anecdotes, not by data and he has declined to provide data. Pfizer says it has seen no such pattern in studies conducted after hundreds of…

Does this photo accurately portray the appearance of Canadian Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam? No, that's not true: This photo, which originally appeared in the Toronto Star on April 23, 2020, has been digitally altered in several ways to change how she looks. Other public health officials, such as Dr. Barbara Ferrer, public health director of Los Angeles…

Did the oldest working nurse in the U.S. recommend that seniors use a specific brand of humidifiers to ward off COVID-19 during the winter? No, that's not true: The video that made the claim used fictional quotes and unrelated footage of surgical nurse Florence "SeeSee" Rigney to advertise humidifiers. The claim appeared in a video posted (archived here) on Facebook…

Did Vice President Kamala Harris "admit" that COVID-19 vaccines don't work? No, that's not true: Her tweet that is the basis for the claim is a summary of public health recommendations that reflect reality: No vaccine is 100% effective and breakthrough infections of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, however mild among vaccinated persons, have been documented and could result in…

Is this video correct in saying ivermectin is a successful treatment for COVID-19, and that is being covered up by the media and the FDA, CDC and WHO; and is natural immunity through infection better than a COVID-19 vaccine? No, none of those claims are true: There is no proof offered in a video about the three organizations "hiding" information…

Does a study find vaccinated patients are 27 times more likely to develop COVID symptoms than unvaccinated? No, that's not true: The study, based on medical records of the Maccabi Health Service HMO in Israel, found that vaccinated patients are 27 times more likely to develop COVID symptoms than people who were infected with and recovered from COVID-19. Though "unvaccinated,"…

Will all Australians who are not vaccinated by the end of the year be put into "isolation camps"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson at 7News Australia told Lead Stories that the account in which this claim was made is fake. Also, a representative of the Australian Government Department of Health told Lead Stories that this post is "false." The…