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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

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Einige Bestandteile der Impfstoffe sind nicht für Menschen zugelassen.

Publisher’s rating: Sämtliche Bestandteile der Covid-Vakzine von Pfizer/Biontech sind in der Schweiz für die Anwendung am Menschen zugelassen. So wurden auch die Hilfsstoffe, die Lipide ALC-0315 und ALC-0159, vom Schweizerischen Heilmittelinstitut im Rahmen des Zulassungsverfahrens eingehend geprüft und genehmigt.

The review examined a Facebook-circulated document that alleged some vaccine ingredients were not authorized for human use. It focused on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty and the lipids ALC-0315 and ALC-0159, which the document identified as ingredients. The review notes that both lipids are listed as excipients in Comirnaty’s product information. It also says the document wrongly attributed Comirnaty to both manufacturers: Moderna’s Spikevax uses different excipients. To address whether the named ingredients were authorized, the review reports a response from Lukas Jaggi, spokesperson for the Swiss medicines regulator Swissmedic, to an inquiry from Keystone-SDA. Jaggi said the vaccine excipients had been examined during the authorization process and that the quantity used in the vaccine had been assessed and approved for human application. The review also describes Swissmedic’s explanation that newly used active substances or excipients are assessed for safety, efficacy and quality for their defined use as part of authorization. The evidence therefore addresses the allegation about the two named Comirnaty lipids in Switzerland, rather than establishing a blanket conclusion about every ingredient in every vaccine. The review adds that the lipids serve as a fatty envelope for the mRNA, which is otherwise not particularly stable, and that the body breaks them down.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

ISIS මඟින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ඒඩ්ස් ව්‍යාප්ත කිරීමේ උත්සාහයක් ?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned a WhatsApp audio message alleging that ISIS was arranging for people posing as representatives of a non-governmental organization to visit homes in Sri Lanka, collect blood samples under the pretext of identifying illnesses, and introduce HIV through the sampling equipment. The review says versions of the claim had circulated on Facebook years earlier and that similar posts had resurfaced. Its conclusion addresses the specific allegation of an ISIS-linked effort in Sri Lanka, not whether HIV can ever be transmitted through contaminated equipment. The fact-check describes two lines of inquiry. It looked for reports of such incidents in Sri Lankan mainstream and international media, finding none, and asked police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa whether an incident or an ISIS plan had been reported. According to the review, Thalduwa said there was no information that this had happened in Sri Lanka and that intelligence had received no report of ISIS attempting such an operation there. The review also acknowledges an important qualification: HIV transmission through needles or syringes is possible. But that general possibility does not establish that the alleged home visits occurred, or that ISIS was involved. The review reports that police considered the circulating messages a revival of older posts, and concludes that there was no credible supporting evidence for the specific claim.

dpaHealth & medicine

De Amerikaanse Claire Bridges was gevaccineerd maar kreeg toch COVID-19, en dan een hartaanval/myocarditis. Nu zijn haar twee benen geamputeerd.

Publisher’s rating: De jonge vrouw kreeg COVID-19 en ervaart inderdaad zware medische problemen. Ze heeft ook een ernstige aangeboren hartaandoening. Ze werd inderdaad wel gevaccineerd, maar er is geen bewezen link tussen haar gezondheidsproblemen en haar inenting. De berichten op Facebook missen dan ook context en zijn daardoor misleidend.

The review addresses claims about Claire Bridges, a 20-year-old student and model in Florida. It reports that she was hospitalized in Tampa from mid-January after contracting COVID-19, developed myocarditis and other serious conditions, and was expected to have both legs amputated. It also confirms that she was vaccinated. The disputed point is the implied connection between vaccination and her medical crisis, rather than whether these events occurred. The review describes the social-media posts as listing her illness and vaccination in a way that suggests the vaccine caused her condition. The review identifies an important part of Bridges’s medical history missing from those posts: she had a serious congenital heart condition. It says that her father described her COVID-19 infection and health problems on a GoFundMe page, and that local media reports also mentioned the congenital condition. The review presents that condition, alongside COVID-19, as relevant context for her complications. On the cause of the myocarditis, the review says her father explicitly used the phrase “covid myocarditis,” which it interprets as myocarditis following infection, not vaccination. It also notes that myocarditis is a known but exceptional side effect of mRNA vaccines, while stating that the review found no indication or evidence that vaccination had put Bridges in her precarious condition. The excerpt does not describe independent medical records or a direct medical examination; its account relies on the father’s GoFundMe description and reporting from local media.