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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

China weiß mehr als wir und hat deshalb noch keinen mRNA-Impfstoff eingesetzt.

Publisher’s rating: Die Information ist aus dem Zusammenhang gerissen. Tatsächlich hat die bisherige Beschränkung auf traditionelle Impfstoffe in China nichts mit besonderen Erkenntnissen über mRNA-Impfstoffe und deren Wirkung zu tun. China arbeitet vielmehr mit Hochdruck an einem eigenen mRNA-Impfstoff.

The claim circulated in a Facebook sharepic asking, “What do they know that we don’t?” It said China had given not a single mRNA vaccine to any of its 1.4 billion citizens, inviting the inference that Chinese authorities had reasons to distrust the vaccines. The review traces the sharepic to a Gateway Pundit article published on February 10, 2022, and notes that the Facebook post did not link to that article. It also observes that the article itself mentioned China’s work on a Chinese mRNA vaccine. The review reports that China had used conventional inactivated-virus vaccines, including CoronaVac and Sinopharm, and that the country had administered around 3 billion doses, with about 85 percent of its population vaccinated. But the fact that China had not yet deployed an mRNA vaccine did not establish that officials had special knowledge about mRNA safety or effectiveness. The review reports that Chinese companies received approval in November 2021 to test a domestically developed mRNA vaccine at larger scale, and that a study of the candidate ARCoV was reported in January 2022. The evidence thus distinguishes a true statement about which vaccine types China had used at that time from the unsupported suggestion that this choice revealed hidden knowledge about mRNA vaccines. The review also describes an ongoing Chinese mRNA development program, which the sharepic’s framing omitted.

APA - Austrian Presse AgenturHealth & medicine

Studie zeigt, dass Lockdowns keine Leben retten und wirkungslos sind.

Publisher’s rating: Die Studie trifft keine generelle Aussage zu Lockdowns. Sie hat nur festgestellt, dass in der ersten Corona-Welle politisch verordnete Maßnahmen kaum mehr Tote verhindert haben als Länder, in denen freiwillig das soziale Verhalten in der Gesellschaft angepasst worden ist. An der Studie und den Autoren wird Kritik geübt.

The claim overstates what the study examined. The APA review describes it as a meta-study that selected and analyzed 24 studies from different countries. Its focus was the first wave of the pandemic, comparing mandated non-pharmaceutical measures with places where people adjusted their social behavior voluntarily—not whether lockdowns in general could save lives or work in every setting. The review says the study found that, in Europe and the United States, where mandatory measures were imposed, mortality was reduced by 0.2 percent. It also notes a possible explanation offered by the study’s authors: people may have reduced contacts and taken precautions voluntarily, even without government orders. The review describes the study’s central question as whether measures such as contact restrictions, limits on gatherings, or targeted closures had to be mandated or could be adopted by society itself. It says the study did not dispute that such measures can have an effect. The APA review cautions against generalizing beyond that comparison. The study considered only the first wave, when the pandemic was a new situation, and did not examine whether people would have behaved just as cautiously later without mandates. The review also reports criticism of the study’s selection of included research and notes it was published on a university website rather than in a scientific journal, so it did not undergo peer review. These qualifications make the broad claim that lockdowns are ineffective or save no lives an inaccurate summary of the study described.

dpaHealth & medicine

Une affiche sur les risques d'AVC chez l'enfant, preuve que les vaccins contre le Covid-19 sont dangereux.

Publisher’s rating: Cette affiche a été lancée dans le cadre d’une campagne de prévention sur les AVC en France. Elle n’a cependant aucun rapport avec les vaccins contre le Covid-19, contrairement à ce qui est sous-entendu sur Facebook.

The Facebook post cited a poster showing a child and warning that an AVC (stroke) may be occurring as supposed evidence that the pharmaceutical industry knew Covid-19 vaccines were dangerous for children. The review identifies the image as part of a French stroke-awareness campaign, not a vaccine-related campaign. It reports that the poster was among a set of five designs featuring different people, including adults and an older person; the child’s image was intended to show that strokes can affect children too. [S1] The review describes checking the poster’s visible details: it tells readers to call 15, the French emergency medical number, and bears logos for Samu-Urgences de France and the Fonds de dotation France-AVC. It says the campaign was displayed at French train stations between November and December 2021. The review also quotes the fund’s president, Françoise Benon, who said the campaign was solely about stroke prevention and had no connection to Covid vaccination. [S1] The chronology also undercuts the post’s implication: the review says the campaign began before children aged 5–11 could receive Covid-19 vaccination in France, which was extended to that age group in December 2021. It reports that the fund had sought support from Boehringer Ingelheim, but says the fund’s president clarified that the company did not make a Covid-19 vaccine. The poster therefore documents a stroke-awareness effort, not evidence that its creators or a pharmaceutical partner were warning about vaccine danger. [S1]

MediaWiseHealth & medicine

D.C. residents will need proof of vaccination to leave their homes

Publisher’s rating: Needs context

The claim arose from a January 11, 2022 tweet by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser saying residents would need proof of vaccination “before heading out.” Read without the linked policy’s details, that wording could suggest people needed a vaccine card simply to leave home. The review examined whether that was actually the rule, including whether residents needed proof to make everyday trips such as buying milk. It reports that the tweet linked to D.C.’s official vaccine policy and that the new requirements began January 15.

dpaHealth & medicine

Eine Pfizer-Impfstoffstudie zeigt eine fast 100-prozentige Todesrate unter ungeborenen Kindern bei Schwangeren.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keine Hinweise darauf, dass eine Corona-Impfung Schwangeren oder Ungeborenen schadet. Der Blogbeitrag deutet Daten aus einer Pfizer-Analyse grundlegend falsch - die angebliche Todesrate ist selbst berechneter Nonsens. Die Impfung wird Schwangeren und Frauen mit Kinderwunsch explizit empfohlen, da Schwangere ein erhöhtes Risiko für einen schweren Verlauf von Covid-19 haben.

The claim concerns figures in Pfizer’s post-authorization safety analysis, not results from the clinical trial conducted before the vaccine was authorized. The analysis compiled suspected adverse-event reports received through several channels between the vaccine’s authorization in December 2020 and February 28, 2021. The review explains that these reports were not a count of all vaccinated pregnant women, and that a report of an adverse event does not establish that vaccination caused it. The analysis listed 270 reports concerning vaccinated pregnant women. For 238 pregnancies, no outcome was reported. Among the remaining cases, the review describes one normal birth, five pregnancies still ongoing when reported, and 28 reported fetal or newborn deaths. The blog’s nearly 100% figure came from dividing those 28 reports by the 32 cases with a known outcome, after excluding the 238 cases with unknown outcomes. That calculation does not establish a death rate among vaccinated pregnant women: it leaves out most reports and has no denominator for the number of pregnant women vaccinated during the period. The review notes that the analysis did not provide that total. It also cites a CDC figure of at least 30,494 pregnant women vaccinated in the United States by February 16, 2021, while cautioning that this is not a complete count of vaccinations for the analysis’s reporting period. The review further says the medical circumstances of the reported pregnancy losses were not assessed, so the reports do not show that vaccination caused them.

dpaHealth & medicine

Studie zeigt: Lockdowns bringen nichts.

Publisher’s rating: Hier fehlt Kontext: Die Untersuchung wirft eine wichtige Frage auf, kann sie aber nicht abschließend klären. Experten nennen mehrere Kritikpunkte: Die Studie wurde zum Beispiel vor ihrer Veröffentlichung keinen anderen Wissenschaftlern zur Begutachtung vorgelegt, was eigentlich gang und gäbe wäre.

dpaHealth & medicine

Compilatievideo toont sporters die ineenstorten en/of stierven als gevolg van de coronavaccins.

Publisher’s rating: In het meerendeel van de gevallen hebben de gezondheidsproblemen geen link met een coronavaccinatie of COVID-19. In een handvol gevallen is geen oorzaak en/of vaccinatiestatus bekend.

The video reviewed by dpa shows around twenty athletes suffering a health episode and collapsing on the field between December 2020 and January 2022. A Dutch Facebook user presented the footage with references to a “jab” and portrayed the athletes as climate victims. The review examined whether the episodes shown supported the implication that COVID-19 vaccines had caused them; it found no established vaccine link for anyone in the video. [S1: “Een compilatievideo toont een twintigtal atleten die allemaal in de periode van december 2020 tot januari 2022 op het veld een gezondheidscrisis kregen en ineenzakten.”; “Maar hoe dan ook is voor geen enkele persoon in de video een vastgestelde link tussen hun episode en een coronavaccin.”] The review gives examples that distinguish the episodes’ documented circumstances from the vaccine allegation. Christian Eriksen had a heart attack, while Alex Apolinario died before he was vaccinated; Nikoloz Basilashvili’s breathing problems were attributed to lingering symptoms after a coronavirus infection. Other episodes were not deaths: Moussa Dembele and Martin Terrier fainted after a sudden drop in blood pressure, and Victor Lindelof became unwell after colliding with another player. [S1: “Dat is het geval voor Christian Eriksen en Alex Apolinario, zij kregen respectievelijk een hartaanval of overleden voor ze gevaccineerd werden.”; “Nikoloz Basilashvili had dan weer ademhalingsproblemen vanwege een paar resterende symptomen na een coronabesmetting.”; “Zo vielen zowel Moussa Dembele als Martin Terrier simpelweg flauw na een plotse bloeddrukval. Victor Lindelof werd onwel na een botsing met een andere speler op het veld.”] Further examples also undermine the suggestion that every athlete collapsed or died because of vaccination: tennis player Jack Draper and referee Charles Bulu suffered heatstroke, and the review says neither died. It says a vaccine link was ruled out for Ousmane Coulibaly’s heart attack, while Keyontae Johnson had been diagnosed with a heart condition before COVID-19 vaccines were widely available in the United States. For some people in the compilation, the cause or vaccination status was not known. That lack of information does not establish a vaccine connection. [S1: “Tennisser Jack Draper en scheidsrechter Charles Bulu hadden een zonneslag. In beide gevallen speelde hitte zeker een rol, maar noch Draper noch Bulu stierven.”; “Een link tussen de hartaanval van Ousmane Coulibaly en een prik werd eveneens uitgesloten.”; “Ook Keyontae Johnson werd gediagnoseerd met een hartaandoening voor de coronavaccins breed beschikbaar waren in de VS.”; “Voor sommige andere atleten is er geen oorzaak bekendgemaakt, of is hun vaccinatiestatus niet geweten.”]

Vishvas NewsHealth & medicine

ప్రియమైన మిత్రులారా, ఈసారి కరోనా ఇదివరకు రెండు వేవ్స్ కంటే భిన్నంగా ఉంది. దీనిలో ముందుగా గొంతు నొప్పి, తరువాత జ్వరము, ఆ తరువాత పొడి దగ్గు మరియు వీటితో పాటు కడుపు నొప్పి వస్తాయి. కంఠధ్వని మారుతుంది, రుచిలో ఎలాంటి మార్పు ఉండదు…..పై లక్షణాలు అన్ని 3 రోజులలో కనిపిస్తాయి. నాకు 2 రోజుల క్రితం గొంతు నొప్పి తరువాత పొడి దగ్గు వచ్చాయి. ఈరోజు తీవ్రమైన జ్వరముతో చాలా బలహీనంగా ఉంది. ఏ పని చేయాలనిపించడం లేదు. ఎప్పుడు నిద్రమత్తుగా ఉంది. ఇలా ఎవరికైనా అనిపిస్తే, పరీక్ష కొరకు ఎదురుచూడకుండా ఈ క్రింద పేర్కొనబడిన ఔషధాలను తీసుకోవడం ప్రారంభించాలి. దీని గురించి భయపడవలసినది ఏది లేదు, ఎందుకమ్టే 3 రోజులలో అన్ని తగ్గిపోతాయి. ఈసారి శ్వాసతీసుకోవడంలో ఇబ్బంది మరియు తక్కువ ఆక్సిజన్ స్థాయి వంటి లక్షణాలు లేవు.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Studie beweist: Omikron-Infektion ist ähnlich gefährlich wie ein Schnupfen und die Virusvariante befällt Geimpfte wie Ungeimpfte gleichermassen.

Publisher’s rating: Der Artikel gibt die Nature-Studie nicht korrekt wieder. Eine Covid-Erkrankung ist gefährlicher als ein Schnupfen. Sars-CoV-2-Impfstoffe reduzieren das Risiko eines schweren Verlaufs - auch bei der Omikron-Variante. Die dritte Impfdosis verstärkt diesen Effekt.

The claim concerned a Facebook-shared Report-24 article that invoked a Nature study to argue that Omicron was about as dangerous as a cold and infected vaccinated and unvaccinated people equally. The review says the study examined how well antibodies neutralised Omicron; it found that more than 85 percent of 247 known neutralising antibodies did not work against the variant. But the review, citing immunologist Carsten Watzl, says that result does not show that vaccination was “almost ineffective”: the study did not distinguish whether the antibodies had been produced after vaccination or infection, and reduced antibody neutralisation is not the same as showing equal protection against severe disease. The review also challenges the comparison with a cold. It reports that Watzl considered Omicron infection more dangerous than influenza, and cites South African data indicating that, for unvaccinated people, the risk of hospitalisation or death from Omicron was 25 percent lower than from Delta—but still higher than for flu. It notes that Omicron often caused milder illness than Delta and appeared to affect the lungs less, while also cautioning that long-term effects were not yet known. The review therefore does not present lower severity relative to Delta as evidence that Omicron was equivalent to a cold. On vaccination, the review says studies found that protection against Omicron was reduced compared with earlier variants, making breakthrough infections more common, but that vaccination still substantially protected against severe illness and hospital admission. It reports that newer studies found a third mRNA dose restored protection, and that Pfizer/BioNTech laboratory studies found three doses increased protection 25-fold compared with two. The review’s account distinguishes the possibility of infection from the risk of severe disease: it says vaccination, particularly a booster, reduced the latter, without guaranteeing complete immunity.

dpaHealth & medicine

Het Ronald McDonald Huis zet zieke kinderen op straat als ze niet gevaccineerd zijn.

Publisher’s rating: De situatie in kwestie is complex en niet zo zwartwit als hier wordt voorgedaan. Er mist essentiële context in dit verhaal. Zo geldt er een uitzondering op de vaccinatieplicht voor zieke kinderen die onder behandeling zijn en daardoor het vaccin niet kunnen krijgen. Het goede doel zegt families die niet gevaccineerd zijn bovendien te helpen met het vinden van alternatieve accommodatie. Deze families worden dus niet echt op straat gezet.

The claim arose from a video of Austin Furgason, whose four-year-old son had leukemia, confronting staff about a letter from the Ronald McDonald House in British Columbia. The letter said people over five had to be vaccinated to stay or work there. Furgason called it an eviction notice and asked whether his son would be put out because his parents were unvaccinated; the staff member replied, “The parents.” The review describes the policy as applying to people who stayed, worked or visited the house, rather than as an order to evict the child. The review says children undergoing treatment who could not be vaccinated were automatically exempt. It also says exemptions for other reasons could be requested and assessed individually. For families who could not meet the vaccination requirement by the deadline, the organization said it would help them find another place to stay. A spokesperson told the Associated Press that it would determine suitable alternative accommodation and ensure families did not face financial hardship as a result. The review therefore documents a real restriction on family stays, but the evidence it reports does not support the claim that sick children were simply put on the street. The account also gives the specific outcome for Furgason’s family: they were able to stay at Easter Seals House in Vancouver from mid-January. Furgason shared this on Facebook on January 19, and the Ronald McDonald House in British Columbia said its team had contacted the family and was supporting an alternative accommodation arrangement.

maharat-newsHealth & medicine

هل يوجد متحوّر فرعي مقلق منحدر من متحوّر أوميكرون؟

Publisher’s rating: صحيح

The review concerns BA.2, a sublineage of Omicron, and whether it was a cause for concern. It says the World Health Organization classified Omicron as a variant of concern on 26 November 2021, and identifies BA.2 among the Omicron lineages. The review’s question is specifically about concern over this descendant sublineage, rather than a claim that BA.2 was a separate, unrelated variant.