Does the fact that flu cases plummeted during the pandemic raise questions about infection statistics? No, that's not true: A post suggesting it should relies on misleading stats. It makes an apples-to-oranges comparison by considering laboratory-confirmed cases from "Week 10" of the as-yet-incomplete 2020-2021 flu season alongside the estimate of total cases from the entire 2019-2020 season. Regardless, it is…

Is the Red Cross not accepting plasma donations from people who have had COVID-19 vaccine? No, that is misleading. There is a difference between the two blood products and Red Cross is still accepting whole blood, platelets and plasma from individuals who have received a COVID-19 vaccine, Jessica Merrill, Red Cross director of communications, told Lead Stories. However, the agency…

Does a video featuring Michael Flynn and Thomas McInerney contain only factual and proven statements? No, that's not true: The video recycles, without repairing, multiple false claims about COVID-19 and the 2020 election that have already been debunked. This fact-check considers seven such claims, including the allegation that COVID-19 was a "deliberate biological attack," that the vaccines for the virus…

Are zombies created by COVID-19 and do the world's richest people drink the blood of tortured children? No, that's not true. A guest on the show of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, conspiracist Stephen Quayle, peddles multiple untrue claims about COVID-19. Lead Stories has previously debunked claims Quayle has made as well as claims about zombies, COVID-19 and accusations that the…

Does a viral video show Bart Somers, the "Health Minister of Belgium," getting vaccinated with a syringe that is missing the needle? No, that's not true: Somers was never the health minister in Belgium, and the video was taken from a news broadcast showing a "dry run" of a vaccination center that was not open yet but was testing procedures…

Did someone stage a grim scene: an open dump truck piled high with corpses in body bags, to present a false narrative about the COVID-19 pandemic? And was this staged scene revealed to be fake because a video captured one of the "dead bodies" smoking a cigarette? No, that's not true: This video clip was shot during the filming of…

Does the existence of a fictional pandemic exercise scenario conducted by the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University prove that the COVID-19 pandemic is a globalist plot for world domination? No, that's not true: Conspiracists are misrepresenting the design of this exercise and professional familiarity with various aspects of global health emergencies as proof that those professionals created…

Does a video about COVID-19 vaccines contain only factual and proven statements? No, that's not true: It's a hodgepodge of disproven claims. Among the recycled allegations are that antibodies will cause the messenger RNA (mRNA) to replicate indefinitely, that they will destroy your lungs and trigger cytokine storms, an overreaction of the immune system. None have been proven to be…

Are people who received a COVID-19 vaccine "walking biological time bombs"? No, that's not true: There is no publicly available evidence the vaccines help create "superstrains and superbugs." Contrary to what the video post claims, the vaccines can actually help prevent the emergence of new variants, and early studies suggest the COVID-19 vaccines available at the time this was written…

Did Richard A Rothschild patent a COVID-19 test kit in 2015? No, that's not true: Richard A Rothschild's patent application for a system and method to test for Covid-19 was submitted on May 17, 2020, not in 2015. The 2020 patent application lists several 'events' (a patent law term) and included in that list of events are several 'priority dates'…

Did Disneyland announce that there will be a new "no scream" policy on theme park rides and that the park would be enforcing this policy? No, that's not true: While there were recommendations that were published by the California Attractions and Parks Association as part of the trade group's "Responsible Reopening Plan" the recommendation did not specify that parks institute…

Did the 2007 fictional movie "I Am Legend" tell the story of a population that gets turned into zombies by "the wrong vaccine" in 2021? No, that's not true: The movie is set in 2012, not 2021, and the characters in the movie are not harmed by a vaccine, but a genetically-modified virus meant to cure cancer. The claim appeared…

Did the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report 1,739 deaths from the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: There's no public evidence the vaccine caused deaths. As its source, the claim cites the government's rough list of unverified reports: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Anyone can report events to VAERS, and the reports -- on their…

Is the COVID-19 positivity rate among migrants at the border "upwards of around 50%"? No, that's not true: It's less than 6%, according to the acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The claim cited the National Sheriffs' Association as its source when, in fact, that group has said that estimates fall between 5% and 50%. The claim…

Is the Gates Foundation a multinational corporation that profits from vaccines as part of a U.S. government plot hatched in the 1970s to depopulate developing countries? No, that's not true: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a registered nonprofit that doesn't pay dividends or capital gains to shareholders. The video cites a declassified 1974 document as proof of the…

Did 2,000 people die from the COVID-19 vaccine and do people over 60 need someone to stay with them for up to 20 days after getting the vaccine, as a health precaution? No, that is misleading. There is no proof that the deaths of people who have been vaccinated were caused by the COVID-19 shots. Multiple experts told Lead Stories…

Did Tom Hanks die of coronavirus in March of 2020? Or, were reports of his 'death' last year just a code to let certain people know that he had been indicted? Was Hanks then executed in May of 2020? Has the public been tricked with computer-generated imagery (CGI) to believe that Tom Hanks has been alive all along? No, these…

Does mass vaccination amid the COVID-19 pandemic create an "irrepressible monster" of disease? No, that's not true: Vaccines represent one of our best hopes of stopping the spread of the virus and its variants, according to medical experts. Viral evolution is normal and will happen -- in fact, has already happened -- with or without a vaccine, virologists say. When…

Does Israel's vaccination data reveal a "frightening" death rate for elderly patients injected with Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: This "new holocaust" conspiracy theory is contradicted by peer-reviewed medical studies and Israel's Health Department. A University of Washington vaccine researcher said that's enough to call into question the methodology behind the claim. Lead Stories finds the analysis behind…

Were the deaths of baseball great Hank Aaron and famed boxer Marvelous Marvin Hagler caused by the COVID-19 vaccine? No, there's no publicly available evidence that's true: Hagler's wife said the vaccine "for sure" did not cause the death of her husband. Aaron's death was similarly not related to the vaccine, according to the medical examiner's office in Fulton County,…