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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.

13,673 published reviews in this topic

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Twitter-User und User in den BR24-Kommentarspalten behaupten, die INtensivstationen in Deutschland seien überlastet, weil die Regierung Menschen aus Rumänien zur Behandlung eingeflogen hat.

Publisher’s rating: Die Aussage ist falsch. Dir Regierung hat auf ein Hilfegesuch der rumänischen Regierung hin insgesamt 18 Patienten eingeflogen. Diese machen 0,7 Prozent der derzeiten Covid-19-Patienten auf deutschen Intensivstationen aus. Betrachtet man stattdessen die Gesamtzahl verfügbarer Betten, machen die Rumänen 0,08 Prozent aus.

El Detector/ Univision NoticiasHealth & medicine

Los vacunados contra el covid-19 se infectan más que los no vacunados

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim was that people vaccinated against COVID-19 become infected more often than people who are unvaccinated. The review assessed that claim in the context of Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback, who made it during an appearance on *The Pat McAfee Show* on November 5. Its conclusion was that the claim was false, citing CDC figures comparing infection likelihood among vaccinated and unvaccinated people. According to the review, CDC figures for August showed that unvaccinated people were 6.1 times more likely to become infected than vaccinated people; figures for September put the difference at 5.8 times. Those comparisons run opposite to the claim: they indicate higher infection likelihood among the unvaccinated, not the vaccinated. The review also states that vaccinated people were less likely to be hospitalized or die, although the excerpt does not provide the underlying figures for those outcomes. The article says it was updated on November 30, 2021, to incorporate CDC updates on the likelihood of severe illness and death using September and November data. Its conclusion about infection likelihood specifically cites the September comparison. The supplied excerpt does not describe an independent test by the publisher; it reports the CDC figures as the evidence used to evaluate Rodgers’s claim.

dpaHealth & medicine

Dit boek uit 2011 voorspelde de coronacrisis.

Publisher’s rating: De video is misleidend. De uitgave in de video is uit 2020, niet 2011. Het is dus niet raar dat er wordt verwezen naar de coronacrisis. De WHO heeft inderdaad de mogelijkheid een gezondheidscrisis uit te roepen en heeft dit al meerdere keren gedaan. Dit is nodig om een ziekte-uitbraak internationaal aan te pakken.

dpaHealth & medicine

47 études confirment l'inefficacité des masques anti-Covid et 32 autres confirment leurs effets négatifs sur la santé.

Publisher’s rating: C'est faux. L'auteur du message se réfère à un article du site d'informations canadien « LifeSiteNews » listant ces 79 études. Elles sont loin de confirmer l'inefficacité globale des masques de protection contre le coronavirus, qui n'ont par ailleurs pas que des effets négatifs, tant s'en faut.

The claim concerns a list of 79 studies cited to argue that masks do not work against Covid-19 and harm health. The review traces the list to a LifeSiteNews article published in July 2021, later translated into French by the group « Résistance mondiale » on 31 October. It says the list’s framing overstates what the cited material establishes. The review reports that many entries predated the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in December 2019, or did not concern protection against coronavirus. It also notes that some linked items were not scientific studies. These points mean the count of 47 and 32 cannot be treated as a set of studies that all directly tested the claim’s propositions. As counterevidence, the review describes the scientific community as broadly supportive of mask use to limit coronavirus spread. It quotes Swiss public-health guidance that masks can help slow transmission, while clarifying they do not guarantee complete protection. The review also says a Canadian environmental-health centre discusses advantages and disadvantages of different masks, and reports that a scientific-analysis organization found benefits outweigh potential drawbacks for people wearing masks correctly. The excerpt does not provide a study-by-study audit of all 79 entries, but it directly challenges the claim that the list proves broad ineffectiveness and health harm.

dpaHealth & medicine

Une proposition de résolution européenne pour la création d'un Fonds d'indemnisation des victimes des vaccins contre le Covid-19, synonyme d'aveu ?

Publisher’s rating: La proposition de résolution est bien réelle. Toutefois, elle peut difficilement être qualifiée « d'aveu ». Les chiffres qui y sont présentés comme des effets secondaires des vaccins contre le Covid-19 nécessitent une remise en contexte.

The review concerns a proposal submitted by French MEP Virginie Joron to create a European compensation fund for people affected by Covid-19 vaccines. The document, dated 23 September 2021, lists reported adverse-event cases for the four vaccines then approved by the EU and asks the European Commission to establish a fund. The review says a fund proposal is not, by itself, an admission that the vaccines caused the reported events. The key qualification is what the figures represent. The review explains that the European Medicines Agency’s database records suspected adverse effects: medical events observed after vaccination that are not necessarily caused by a vaccine and may have other explanations, including illness or other medicines. It says Joron used the figures without making clear that they were suspected, rather than established, vaccine effects. The review also identifies limitations in interpreting the totals. Reports may be duplicated because the database includes submissions from both national authorities and pharmaceutical companies. As an example, it cites EMA safety updates showing 665,707 suspected-event reports in the European Economic Area by 30 September 2021, for nearly 563 million doses administered—below the million figure cited by Joron. These reports, too, do not establish that vaccination caused the events. The review further notes that fatal-outcome entries grouped by reaction do not represent a total count of fatal cases, since one individual case may include more than one suspected effect and be listed multiple times. Finally, the proposal’s parliamentary status does not establish that a fund was approved. The review reports that it was referred to Parliament’s environment and public-health committee on 21 October 2021, but the committee could decide not to proceed. It describes a resolution proposal as distinct from a concrete plan or a decision by a European body.

dpaHealth & medicine

Das Europäische Parlament will einen Fond zur Entschädigung der Opfer der „COVID-19-Impfstoffe“ einrichten.

Publisher’s rating: Der Vorgang im Europäischen Parlament wird falsch dargestellt. Derzeit sind keine Pläne der Europäischen Union für einen solchen Fonds bekannt. Eine einzelne Abgeordnete im Europäischen Parlament hat das in einem Antrag gefordert - das hat jedoch keine direkten Konsequenzen. In dem Antrag werden zudem Zahlen über vermeintliche Nebenwirkungen falsch dargestellt, es handelt sich unbestätigte Verdachtsfälle.