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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

dpaHealth & medicine

Zahlen aus Kanada belegen, dass die Impfung unwirksam ist. Geimpfte infizieren sich überproportional mehr, kommen öfter ins Krankenhaus und die Sterbezahlen sind höher als bei Ungeimpften. Die Corona-Impfung ist eine «Gen-Therapie».

Publisher’s rating: Der Blogbeitrag rechnet mit falschen Zahlen. Die Zahl der Menschen ohne Impfung war zum angenommenen Zeitpunkt deutlich geringer als angegeben. Impfungen gegen das Coronavirus sind nachweislich sicher und wirksam. Sie sind zudem keine Gentherapeutika und es gibt keine Hinweise, dass sie das Immunsystem schädigen.

The claim draws on Canadian COVID-19 case figures and vaccination-status data to argue that vaccinated people were infected, hospitalized and died more often than unvaccinated people. It also calls COVID-19 vaccination gene therapy. The dpa review examined the blog post making those claims and the Canadian government’s daily COVID-19 situation reports cited by the post. The review found a central error in the blog’s calculation: it used 13.31 million as the number of unvaccinated people at the end of February, while the official figure was 5.88 million. The review also reports that 84.52 percent of Canadians had received at least one dose by then. Because the blog used a much larger unvaccinated population than the official data supported, its comparisons and calculated incidence rates did not rest on a sound denominator. The dpa could not reproduce the calculation exactly because the blog did not disclose which COVID-19 case counts it used. It explained, however, that assigning the assumed number of cases to a smaller unvaccinated population would increase the calculated seven-day incidence for that group. It also reported that official Canadian data showed booster vaccination provided effective protection against Omicron, and cited the RKI’s assessment that protection against hospitalization was reduced with Omicron infection but remained good. On the gene-therapy claim, the review states that mRNA vaccination does not alter human genetic material: the RNA information is not incorporated into human DNA. It therefore rejects the characterization of the vaccines as gene therapy. These findings address the specific Canadian-data argument and the related claim about mRNA vaccines; the excerpt does not provide a separate, detailed comparison of observed death rates.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Impfende Ärzte erhalöten monatlich 12.000 Euro extra und 10 Euro Denunziationsgebühr für jeden Patienten, der sich nicht impfen lassen will.

Publisher’s rating: Die Landesärztekammer und die Kassenärztliche Vereinigung weisen die Behauptungen zurück. Ärzte werden pro Impfung für ihren Arbeitsaufwand vergütet und nicht pauschal mit 12 000 Euro monatlich. 10 Euro erhalten sie für eine Impfberatung ohne anschließenden Impftermin. Die Abrechnung solcher Beratungen lässt sich aber nicht einer einzelnen Person zuordnen.

dpaHealth & medicine

De Europese Commissie heeft een vaccinatieplicht voor kinderen 12-17 jaar ingevoerd. Zonder mRNA-prik mag je kind niet de grens over.

Publisher’s rating: De beweringen zijn onzin. Er is geen vaccinatieplicht, ook niet voor kinderen. Een groene vink in het EU-coronacertificaat is nog altijd te krijgen met een negatieve test of een herstelbewijs. En ook zonder certificaat kun je nog altijd reizen binnen de EU. Lidstaten kunnen dan wel strengere voorwaarden opleggen voor het inreizen.

The claim concerned a supposed European Commission decision requiring children aged 12–17 to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to cross a border. The review traces it to a tweet dated 13 March, which said the Commission had “just” introduced such a requirement. It reports that the tweet circulated widely, including on Facebook. The review checked the claim against the Commission’s public communications and policy information. The review reports that the Commission sent only two tweets on 13 March, about Ukrainian refugees and Russian gas, and that it found no Commission announcement about COVID certificates in tweets around that date or in a press release issued then. It also cites the Commission’s statement that vaccination is not necessary for travel: a test or recovery certificate could also qualify for an EU COVID certificate. For children, the review says, the approved vaccines were Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, but children could also obtain a certificate through a test or recovery record. The claim also omitted that vaccination or a certificate was not a universal condition for crossing an EU border. The review says travel without a COVID certificate remained possible, while individual member states could impose entry restrictions such as testing or quarantine. Thus, possible national entry conditions did not establish the alleged EU-wide vaccination mandate.

dpaHealth & medicine

Ein französisches Gericht hat entschieden, dass eine Corona-Impfung versicherungstechnisch mit Selbstmord gleichzusetzen ist.

Publisher’s rating: Das angebliche Gerichtsurteil ist frei erfunden. Versicherungen zahlen durchaus bei Impfschäden.

The claim concerns a supposed French court ruling that a person who chose Covid vaccination had legally committed suicide, so relatives could not collect life-insurance benefits after that person’s death. The review traces the allegation to a social-media post linking to a video by the conspiracy website kla.tv. It describes how the video’s narration and a “Karlsruhe” location label could suggest a court judgment, while the video did not identify which court supposedly ruled, in which country, or when. The review’s account says the alleged French case involved a family suing an insurer after their grandfather’s death. The review reports that the story had circulated before and that an earlier dpa check had found it to be fabricated. It says the cited article by a French paediatrician on Riposte Laïque was no longer available, and that an archived article by the author, which discussed insurance issues generally, did not contain the alleged case. The review also says the French lawyer named in online accounts, Carlo Alberto Brusa, had no involvement according to his law firm, which said it did not know whether the case was real. A spokesperson for the French insurance association France Assureurs also rejected the claim that insurers treated vaccination as suicide. The account therefore presents no identifiable French court, judgment, or case record supporting the allegation; instead, its reported checks found no substantiation and identified denials from the purported lawyer’s firm and the insurers’ association. The review separately distinguishes the fabricated court story from actual insurance arrangements: it reports that Covid vaccination was not treated as a negative factor in life-insurance coverage or premiums, while noting that private accident policies may cover only specified vaccinations. These details do not establish that every policy covers every vaccine injury, but they contradict the blanket claim that vaccination itself is legally equivalent to suicide.