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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,672 published reviews in this topic

El Detector / Univision NoticiasHealth & medicine

La viruela del mono es una enfermedad nueva o creada

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns whether mpox is a newly created disease. Univision’s review treats that assertion as one of several claims circulating in comments on its Facebook coverage after the first reported U.S. case on May 19, 2022. Its conclusion says the disease is naturally occurring, citing analysis of the virus’s composition, and places reported cases in monkeys in 1958 and in humans in 1970. That chronology predates the 2022 outbreak by decades and does not support the claim that the disease was newly created then. The review says it checked the recurring claims using information from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Nations, and consulted virologist and vaccine expert José Esparza and infectious-disease specialist Priya Sampathkumar. For the claim at issue, it reports that the virus’s composition had been studied and presents the natural-origin finding alongside the earlier case dates. The excerpt does not name the specific composition study or provide its methods, so those details cannot be assessed from the supplied text.

El Detector / Univision NoticiasHealth & medicine

La viruela del mono es consecuencia de las vacunas contra el covid-19

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review addresses claims posted in response to news about the first reported U.S. monkeypox case on May 19, 2022. Among them was the specific allegation that monkeypox resulted from COVID-19 vaccines. To assess the claims, El Detector says it checked information from the WHO, CDC and UN and consulted virologist and vaccine expert José Esparza and infectious-disease specialist Priya Sampathkumar.

dpaHealth & medicine

Albert Bourla, le PDG de Pfizer, parle à Davos de son plan de réduire la population mondiale de 50 % d'ici 2023.

Publisher’s rating: Ces affirmations puisent leur origine dans une vidéo qui a été manipulée. En réalité, Albert Bourla a parlé de l’objectif de Pfizer visant à permettre à plus de personnes aux moyens réduits d’avoir accès aux médicaments de la compagnie d’ici 2023.

The claim concerns a video purporting to show Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos and saying that Pfizer planned to “reduce the world population by 50% by 2023.” The review traces the clip’s visible logo to an English-language podcast called “To The Lifeboats,” and describes the version circulating there as edited. In that version, Bourla is heard saying that one of Pfizer’s five-year goals was to reduce the number of people in the world by 50% by 2023, without the qualifying words that identify whom he was talking about. (S1) To check the claim, the review compares the circulating clip with the original interview, which it says was published on YouTube by the World Economic Forum on 25 May 2022. In the original, Bourla’s statement refers to reducing “the number of people in the world who cannot afford our medicines” by 50% by 2023—not reducing the world’s population. The omitted qualification changes the meaning of the clip and is the central reason it does not support the claim. (S1) The review places the remark in the context of Pfizer announcing an initiative to sell certain vaccines and medicines at cost in 45 low-income countries. That context is consistent with Bourla discussing access to Pfizer medicines, rather than a plan to reduce the global population. The review therefore finds that the claim misrepresents his statement by relying on an edited excerpt that removes its key qualification. (S1)

THIP MediaHealth & medicine

Omega-3 capsules are harmful to the human body

Publisher’s rating: mostly false

Related reporting describes a study in mice examining how fish-oil fatty acids may affect colorectal tumour growth. The article says the effect depended in part on ALOX15, an enzyme involved in converting EPA and DHA into resolvins, and reports that fish oil—particularly DHA—could accelerate tumour growth in the mice when this enzyme was absent. This is evidence about a potential biological risk under specific conditions in an animal study, not evidence that omega-3 capsules are generally harmful to people. The report also says outcomes may vary by supplement form and by a person’s health circumstances. It describes EPA-only supplements as performing differently from DHA variants in the mouse findings and raises particular concerns for people with existing colon polyps or a family history of colorectal issues. The excerpt therefore does not support treating all omega-3 capsules as harmful; it reports a qualified, preliminary risk rather than a general finding about human use.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

හිසේ ශල්‍ය කර්මයක් සඳහා බාචි සුසාන් මේ දිනවල රෝහල් ගත කරලද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim was that singer Baachi Susan had recently been hospitalized for emergency surgery because of a head condition. The review examined a Facebook post using his photograph and making that allegation. It found no recent report of such an operation, while noting that reports did describe him undergoing head surgery in 2019: “මෑතකදී මේ සම්බන්ධ කිසිදු තොරතුරක් වාර්තා නොවූවත්, 2019 වසරේදී ගායන ශිල්පී බාචී සුසාන්ගේ හිසේ ඇති වූ අබාධයක් හේතුවෙන් ශල්‍යකර්මයක් සිදු කළ බවට පුවත් වාර්තා පෙන්වා දී තිබුණේ මෙලෙසින්.” To check whether the old reports explained the current post, the publisher says it contacted Susan by telephone. He reportedly confirmed that he had surgery in 2019 and that a photograph circulated on social media at the time was circulating again. He also said he was fully recovered: “ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ, 2019 වර්ෂයේ තමන් ශල්‍යකර්මට භාජනය වූ අතර එම අවස්ථාවේ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ සංසරණය වූ ඡායාරූපය නැවතත් මේ දිනවල සංසරණය වන බවයි. තමන් මේ වන විට පූර්ණ සුවයෙන් පසුවන බවත්, ඔහු වැඩි දුරටත් සඳහන් කළා.” The key omitted context was therefore the photograph’s age: the publisher concluded that it was taken when Susan was hospitalized for surgery in 2019, not evidence of a new hospitalization. Its conclusion was that he was in good health when contacted, so the old image was misleadingly presented as a current event: “ගායන ශිල්පී බාචි සුසාන් 2019 වසරේ ශල්‍ය කර්මයක් සඳහා රෝහල් ගත කළ අවස්ථාවේ ලබා ගත් ඡායාරූපයක්, ඔහු මේ දිනවල ශල්‍යකර්මයක් සඳහා රෝහල් ගත කර ඇති බවට හඟවමින් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ සටහන් සංසරණය වන බවයි.”

dpaHealth & medicine

Virus voor apenpokken zit in het coronavaccin van AstraZeneca / dat vaccin veroorzaakte de recente uitbraak van apenpokken.

Publisher’s rating: De bewering houdt helemaal geen steek. Het neutraal gemaakte adenovirus in het AstraZenecavaccin heeft niets te maken met het apenpokkenvirus. Het zijn twee compleet verschillende virussen. Daarenboven is het adenovirus dat als virale vector dient voor het coronavaccin onschadelijk gemaakt: het kan niet repliceren en dus ook niemand besmetten.