Does a paper by Robert O. Young show that he conducted electron microscopy analysis on each of the four COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States and confirmed that there was graphene and parasites in all of them? No, that's not true: Graphene is not an ingredient in any of these vaccines. Analysis of the photos appearing in Young's paper…

Did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drop Canada's vaccine mandate because nine in every 10 COVID-19 deaths have been among the vaccinated? No, that's not true: The Canadian government made no such claim in the announcement of its plan to end the vaccine mandate for people entering the country. It did cite several other factors, however, including Canada's high vaccination…

Does an Oxford University study say COVID-19 vaccination increases the risk of infection by 44 percent? No, that's not true: The figure comes from a small subsection of the study and doesn't represent its overall conclusions. One of the study's authors told Lead Stories in a September 29, 2022, email that "our study support[s] previous research that Covid vaccines are…

Do any of the COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States contain graphene oxide? No, that's not true: Graphene oxide is not listed as an ingredient in any of the four COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. There is no publicly available credible evidence demonstrating graphene oxide is in any of the vaccines. The claim that graphene oxide…

Do the trace amounts of COVID-19 vaccine mRNA found in breast milk during the first two days after vaccination make it unsafe for babies? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to suggest breastfeeding after COVID mRNA vaccination should be avoided. While some vaccine skeptics have used a research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics to warn against COVID shots, the…

Did hospitals force the vaccination of millions of children for COVID-19 and are they now trying to normalize a rare side effect? No, that's not true: Hospitals do not have that kind of power and less than a handful of states have mandated COVID shots before kids can attend school. There's also no evidence to suggest that the health care…

Does the U.S. government own or co-own Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, giving it an "ulterior motive" for mandating the shots? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to support this claim. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which collaborated with Moderna on the shot, told Lead Stories in a September 28, 2022 email that it "neither owns…

Did President Joe Biden tell Americans to get COVID vaccinations as Hurricane Ian was bearing down on Florida in late September 2022? No, that's not true: A post suggesting he did uses a video recorded in August 2021, not on the eve of Ian's landfall. Biden made no mention of vaccines when he spoke about Hurricane Ian at the White…

Is the U.S. blood supply contaminated by donors who have had the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: There is no scientific evidence that the vaccine enters the bloodstream and Lead Stories spoke to experts who refuted the claim. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on September 23, 2022. It opened: YOU TELL LIES This is what the post…

Did the United Kingdom publish reports that show individuals triple-vaccinated against the coronavirus account for 91% of the COVID-19 deaths in the country through 2022? Do these reports further show that over 24,000 "unexplained" excess deaths have occurred since April 2022? No, that's not true: While the U.K. Office of National Statistics states that the figures for triple-vaccination status and…

Are COVID-19 vaccines 98 times worse than the virus itself? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to suggest that getting sick with coronavirus is a better option for the population as a whole than the benefits of immunization. While a pre-print (non-peer-reviewed) draft of an article discusses the ethics of vaccine booster mandates for university students and their possible…

Did Ohio high school football player Kaden Clymer get the COVID-19 vaccine before he was found with a 6-foot-long clot in his leg? No, this claim lacks context. A local TV station covering the story later reported that Clymer had been diagnosed with IVC atresia, a vascular anomaly. "Kaden was never vaccinated before the blood clots were found," his sister,…

Did England publish "horrific figures on COVID Vaccine Deaths" that show 1 in 482 people died within a month of receiving their shot, 1 in 246 died within 60 days and 1 in 73 died by May 2022? No, that's not true: While the figures are correct, according to the U.K. Office of National Statistics, the statistics are missing crucial…

Did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. win a Supreme Court lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies and prove that the COVID-19 vaccine does irreparable damage? No, that's not true: No such case was found in the Supreme Court docket. Lead Stories has previously debunked the claim that the Supreme Court has ruled that the COVID-19 vaccine is harmful. The claim appeared in a…

Did the movie, "Captain America: The First Avenger" contain secret clues about the coronavirus years in advance -- proving that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned? No, that's not true: The Times Square advertisements appearing in the background of a movie scene and highlighted with red circles in this meme do not contain a hidden message about a plan for a…

Does the regular use of ivermectin to prevent COVID-19 result in up to a 92 percent reduction in the disease's mortality rate and also reduce infection and hospitalization? No, that's not true: The claims about ivermectin were part of what one expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center called "not a well-constructed study." The claims appeared in a study…

Has the number of excess deaths in Europe gone up a "shocking 691%" in children since the European Medicines Agency (EMA) first approved the COVID vaccine for them? Yes, it's true that the number of excess deaths has gone up some sevenfold, but there's no evidence to support the implied connection between the increase and the start of COVID vaccinations…

Was ivermectin "vindicated (again)" in a peer-reviewed study that showed a 92% reduction in COVID-19 mortality? No, that's not true: The claims about ivermectin were published on an "open science" site where scientists may share findings before they have been vetted by independent experts. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not authorized the use of the anti-parasite drug…

Is ivermectin recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the U.S. government for the treatment of COVID-19 as of September 2022? No, that's not true: Neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Food and Drug Administration recommend the antiparasitic as treatment or prevention. As of this writing, the National Institutes of Health listed ivermectin as…

Is Starbucks "going cashless" regarding payment options for customers as of August 2022? No, that's not true: The article seen in this particular post that includes comments made by the Starbucks CEO fails to disclose that the cashless option was concerning the 2020 pandemic -- not a permanent change to cashless payments at all Starbucks stores. Starbucks also debunked this…