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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

maharat-newsHealth & medicine

هل هناك عوارض جديدة لكوفيد-19؟

Publisher’s rating: صحيح

The review examines reports of unusual symptoms associated with COVID-19, including changes in the color of toes or skin, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and loss of appetite, and hallucinations. It presents these as symptoms reported in studies or observed among patients, rather than establishing that every symptom is common or definitively caused by COVID-19. For “COVID toes,” the article says a report in AARP described changes in toe color and quotes Esther Freeman, identified as a director at Massachusetts General Hospital, saying the symptom had been observed in patients during the pandemic and generally disappeared. For gastrointestinal symptoms, it cites William Chey of the University of Michigan, who says these symptoms can be a manifestation of COVID-19. The review also refers to a U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information study describing hallucinations as a possible atypical symptom in patients without psychiatric or neurological illness; it explicitly notes that more research is needed to characterize such cases. The article distinguishes these reports from the broader list of symptoms it attributes to the CDC, including fever, cough, nausea or vomiting, and shortness of breath. It also advises urgent hospital attention for certain unusual signs, such as new confusion or inability to walk. Its conclusion is limited: it says the cited material supports the existence of studies reporting additional symptoms, while further data are needed to define them more fully.

RTL NewsHealth & medicine

Die Impfung schützt nicht Ansteckung, Übertragung und Tod

Publisher’s rating: Teilweise falsch, unvollständiger Kontext. Die Impfung schützt nachweislich gut vor schweren Verläufen und minimiert auch das Risiko von Ansteckungen. Dass Impfdurchbrüche geschehen können und die Impfung gänzlich vor einer Ansteckung und Weitergabe schützt, wurde von Anfang an nicht behauptet.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Bill Gates called for the withdrawal of all COVID-19 vaccines

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media claim that Bill Gates called for all COVID-19 vaccines to be withdrawn. The post attributed the demand to remarks in a 19-minute television interaction, quoting alleged comments about vaccines being more harmful than expected. The review says Gates did not make the quoted statement or demand a withdrawal: its investigation traced the report behind the post to an article that had been published as satire, not as a genuine account of his remarks. To check the attribution, the review says it searched for reporting that Gates had made such a demand and found no such news report. It also traced the article shared in the post to The Daily Expose, which first published it on 29 August 2021. The review’s central evidence is the site’s own disclaimer: it described the piece as fictional and expressly stated that Gates had made no such speech. The review further reports that, after the article was republished by other websites as genuine news, The Daily Expose added a disclaimer acknowledging that it should have identified the satire at the beginning and apologizing for not doing so. This provenance supports the conclusion that the purported withdrawal demand came from a satirical article, rather than a verified statement by Gates.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Die Corona-Impfstoffe verursachen mehr Todesfälle als das Coronavirus.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keine Belege für diese Behauptung. Impfungen gegen Corona sind nachweislich sicher und wirksam.

The review examines a claim made by US doctor Peter McCullough in an interview published on a German website on December 25, 2021: that COVID-19 vaccination had caused more deaths than the virus. The review says he invoked alleged figures from Maine and Taiwan, as well as unspecified “cities in Australia.” Its central evidence check is that reports of deaths after vaccination are not, by themselves, evidence that vaccination caused those deaths. The review describes the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) as recording suspected adverse events observed in temporal connection with vaccination, and notes that its operators warn against treating those reports as proof of causation. (S1: “Der Arzt bezieht sich in dem am 25. Dezember 2021 auf einer deutschen Website veröffentlichten Interview auf angebliche Todeszahlen in Taiwan und dem US-Bundesstaat Maine.”; S1: “Dabei handelt es sich jedoch lediglich um Verdachtsmeldungen. Diese sind nicht als Dokumentation von durch Impfungen verursachten Nebenwirkungen zu verstehen, warnen die Betreiber.”) The Maine comparison in the review is 34 deaths reported to VAERS in temporal connection with vaccination by the end of 2021, versus 1,626 deaths in connection with COVID-19 by mid-January 2022. The review explicitly characterizes the first number as reports, not confirmed vaccine-caused deaths. It also gives the broader US figure of more than 840,000 deaths associated with COVID-19 since the pandemic began. These figures do not support treating the VAERS count as a count of deaths caused by vaccination. (S1: “Für den US-Bundesstaat Maine wurden in VAERS zum Stand vom Jahresende 2021 34 Todesfälle gemeldet, die in einem zeitlichen Zusammenhang mit einer Corona-Impfung beobachtet wurden.”; S1: “Im Zusammenhang mit Covid-19 gestorben sind zum Stand Mitte Januar 2022 in Maine 1 626 Menschen.”; S1: “Insgesamt sind in den USA seit Ausbruch der Corona-Pandemie mehr als 840 000 Menschen in Zusammenhang mit Covid-19 gestorben.”) For Taiwan, the review reports that by January 11, 2022, more than 16 million people had received two vaccine doses, alongside 1,242 reports of deaths as suspected vaccine side effects. It contrasts those reports with 850 deaths associated with coronavirus and 17,559 confirmed cases since the pandemic began, noting that Taiwan had adopted strict measures early on. It also says Taiwan’s CDC cautioned that events reported after vaccination were not necessarily caused by it. The review therefore treats the alleged comparison as misleading: it compares suspected reports with deaths attributed to COVID-19, although the former do not establish causation. (S1: “Bis zum 11. Januar 2022 haben dort mehr als 16 Millionen Menschen zwei Impfungen erhalten.”; S1: “Es gab 1 242 Verdachtsmeldungen, dass als Impfnebenwirkung ein Todesfall aufgetreten sei.”; S1: “Auch das in Taiwan zuständige Center for Disease Control CDC weist ausdrücklich darauf hin, dass es sich bei den Verdachtsmeldungen zwar um nach Impfungen gemeldeten Ereignisse handele, diese jedoch nicht durch die Impfungen verursacht worden sein müssen.”)

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Die Impfung würde das Risiko von Herzinfarkten erhöhen

Publisher’s rating: Irreführend. Für die Behauptung, die Impfung erhöhe das Risiko, einen Herzinfarkt oder einen Schlaganfall zu erleiden, gibt es keine wissenschaftlichen Indizien. Fachleute beobachten keinen auffälligen Anstieg dieser Erkrankungen, wie häufig behauptet wird.