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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

Vishvas NewsHealth & medicine

सोशल मीडिया वर एका दवाखान्यातील चित्र शेअर करण्यात येत आहे, ज्यात दवाखान्यातील दुर्व्यवस्था दिसतेय. दावा करण्यात येत आहे कि हे चित्र गुजरात चे आहे. चित्रात एक महिला म्हणजे एकूण ३ पेशंट बेड वर दिसतात.

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

dpaHealth & medicine

Australische Behörde hält PCR-Tests für sinnlos und gibt Betrug am Volk zu.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keine australische Behörde, die die PCR Tests als «sinnlos» und als «Betrug am Volk» bezeichnet hat.

The claim arose from a Facebook post sharing a Report24.news headline alleging that an Australian authority had admitted to two years of deception because PCR tests were “meaningless.” The review traces the allegation to a response by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to a question from Senator Gerard Rennick. It reports that Rennick asked on November 11, 2021, whether PCR tests could distinguish living from dead virus; the TGA replied on January 31, 2022. The review says that response did not concede the tests were useless: it described PCR as the leading test for diagnosing COVID-19. The TGA’s qualification was that PCR detects viral genetic material but cannot tell whether the virus detected is alive. The review explains that genetic fragments may remain detectable after a virus is no longer replicating, sometimes producing a weak positive result. It also reports that the TGA described PCR tests as the current gold standard for diagnosis in a January 12, 2022 document. These statements describe a limitation in interpreting some positive results, not an admission that the tests have no value or that the public was deceived. The review further notes that Rennick’s May 14 Facebook post connected the government response to a question about checking positive results with blood tests, but did not itself make the “meaningless” or “fraud” allegation. It also says the possibility of false-negative and false-positive results was known and that Australian health guidance had discussed persistent detection of viral RNA after recovery in March 2020. The evidence presented therefore distinguishes PCR’s inability to identify whether detected virus is infectious from the much broader claim that testing was pointless or fraudulent.

dpaHealth & medicine

Les personnes vaccinées contre le Covid-19 ne peuvent faire de don de sang ou d'organe.

Publisher’s rating: Cette affirmation est fausse. Il s’agit d’une rumeur qui circule depuis le début de la pandémie. Les vaccins à ARN messager ne nécessitent aucun ajournement ou exclusion au don de sang ou d’organes. Les personnes vaccinées contre le Covid-19 ont tout à fait le droit de donner leur sang et leurs organes. Aucune étude scientifique ne s’y oppose.

MediaWiseHealth & medicine

Pfizer's CEO said a fourth covid vaccine dose is necessary

Publisher’s rating: Legit

The claim originated in a RapTV tweet posted March 14, 2022, asserting that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose was “necessary.” The tweet did not link to evidence or explain when the dose might be given or who it might apply to. The review identified RapTV as an entertainment and music account rather than a specialist source on COVID-19 or health guidance. To trace the statement, the review describes searching for “pfizer ceo fourth dose” and finding coverage of Bourla’s interview on “Face the Nation.” It reports that Bourla called a fourth dose necessary based on early, preliminary data. The cited reporting also distinguished the vaccine’s protection against severe disease from the second booster’s role in warding off infections. This supports that Bourla made a statement along the lines claimed, while the limited information in the tweet obscured its evidentiary basis and context. The review also describes a check on whether the statement amounted to settled public-health advice. It says that ABC News interviewed professors from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in March 2022; they said it was either too early to recommend a fourth dose or that very few people, apart from those who were immunocompromised, would require one. The review further notes that people aged 50 and older were then eligible for a second booster, but that USA Today reported science offered little guidance and the choice was personal. Thus, the evidence supports the attribution to Bourla, not the broader implication that a fourth dose was universally necessary or recommended.