Skip to main content

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

dpaHealth & medicine

Die offiziellen Zahlen des PEI zu Nebenwirkungen und Todesfällen in einigen Monaten Corona-Impfung in Deutschland sowie ein Vergleich mit den Meldungen nach anderen Impfungen in den letzten Jahrzehnten ist "erschreckend".

Publisher’s rating: Mit Stand 19. August 2021 gab es in Deutschland 1 254 Verdachtsfallmeldungen von Todesfällen nach der Corona-Impfung. Nur in 48 Fällen wird ein ursächlicher Zusammenhang mit der Impfung für möglich oder wahrscheinlich gehalten. Die Zahlen deuten nicht auf Sicherheitsbedenken hin. Der relativ kurze Impf-Zeitraum, die große Zielgruppe sowie das enorme öffentliche Interesse an den neuen Corona-Impfungen haben Einfluss auf die Melderate.

Centre SukhaHealth & medicine

Revista Sanitaria de Investigación

Publisher’s rating: La Narcolepsia, actualmente se identifica como una enfermedad neurodegenerativa porque hay una pérdida masiva de neuronas específicas en el cerebro. Estas neuronas contienen los neuropéptidos hipocretina-1 e hipocretina-2, también conocidos como orexina-A y orexina-B. Las mediciones de hipocretina-1 en el líquido cefalorraquídeo son diagnósticas de la narcolepsia primaria. La causa de la pérdida neuronal podría ser autoinmune, ya que la mayoría de los pacientes tienen el alelo HLA DQB1*0602 que predispone a este trastorno. El descubrimiento de la deficiencia de hipocretina está redefiniendo la entidad clínica de la narcolepsia y ofreciendo nuevos procedimientos de diagnóstico1.

dpaHealth & medicine

Norwegen hat Covid-19 als weniger gefährlich als die Grippe eingestuft, weswegen die Pandemie-Beschränkungen aufgehoben wurden.

Publisher’s rating: Tatsächlich wurden in Norwegen mittlerweile fast alle Corona-Maßnahmen aufgehoben. Das liegt aber nicht daran, dass Covid-19 für den Einzelnen weniger gefährlich geworden ist, sondern am Impffortschritt. Das «Norwegian Institute of Public Health» hat Covid-19 zudem nicht als weniger gefährlich als die Grippe eingestuft, aber ist der Meinung, dass die Erkrankung ab sofort als saisonale Atemwegserkrankung behandelt werden sollte.

The claim combined two developments in Norway—lifting most Covid restrictions and an alleged reclassification of Covid-19 as no more dangerous than flu—and presented the reclassification as the reason for reopening. The review says that this connection was misleading: most measures were lifted, but the stated reason was vaccination progress, not a conclusion that Covid-19 had become less dangerous to individuals. It reports that the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) had not classified Covid-19 as less dangerous than flu. The review identifies the specific restrictions and reopening date: Norway lifted almost all measures, including the one-metre distancing rule and limits on event attendance, on 25 September 2021. It cites Norwegian broadcaster NRK’s account of the reopening, which said Prime Minister Erna Solberg attributed the steps chiefly to vaccination progress and stressed that the pandemic was not over. At that time, the review reports, 66.5% of the total population and 83.4% of adults were fully vaccinated. To check the alleged reclassification, the review says dpa asked the NIPH press office, which called the claim false and described it as a misinterpretation of a newspaper interview with deputy director Geir Bukholm. The institute’s view that Covid-19 should, at that stage of the pandemic, be considered among respiratory diseases with seasonal fluctuations did not mean that Covid-19 and flu were similar; the review says the institute also emphasized individual treatment and continued epidemiological monitoring.

dpaHealth & medicine

Geimpfte sind offenbar eine Gefahr für andere Menschen, weil sie am häufigsten positiv getestet werden und auch fast die Hälfte der Covid-Patienten ausmachen.

Publisher’s rating: Die Impfung wirkt, auch wenn eine vergleichsweise kleine Zahl von Geimpften an Covid-19 erkrankt. Die verbreiteten Zahlen sind aus dem Zusammenhang gerissen. Tatsächlich zeigen sie, dass Geimpfte besser geschützt sind als Nichtgeimpfte.

The claim came from a Facebook post citing Luxembourg figures for the week of 27 September to 3 October 2021. It said that 70.5% of positive tests were among people who were partly or fully vaccinated and that vaccinated people made up 49.2% of hospital patients. The review found that these figures combine partial and full vaccination, and that this obscures important distinctions in the underlying report. For positive tests, the review reports 36.7% fully vaccinated, 33.8% partly vaccinated and 29.5% unvaccinated. Thus, the 70.5% figure results from adding the partly vaccinated to the fully vaccinated. The review also notes that the health ministry described 63.3% of new cases as unvaccinated or only partly vaccinated. It cautions that the share of cases among vaccinated people needs to be considered against their share of the population: about 73.8% were fully vaccinated. Hospital figures also do not support the post’s presentation as a single vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated split. On regular wards, 18.1% of patients were fully vaccinated, 17.3% partly vaccinated and 64.6% unvaccinated. In intensive care, 24.6% were fully vaccinated, 24.6% partly vaccinated and 50.8% unvaccinated. The review says there were only 16 patients on regular wards and eight in intensive care that week, so the percentages reflect small numbers. It further reports that fully vaccinated people were 73.8% of the population but only 18.1% of hospital patients; unvaccinated and partly vaccinated people together were 26.2% of the population and 81.9% of hospital patients.

dpaHealth & medicine

Foto's tonen misvorming baby's door vaccin.

Publisher’s rating: De bewering is fout. De foto's zijn ouder dan de uitbraak van COVID-19. De misvormingen bij de baby's zijn dus zeker niet het gevolg van vaccinatie met de mRNA-vaccins van Moderna of Pfizer. De mRNA-vaccins kunnen het menselijk DNA niet wijzigen.

The claim concerned photos of babies with abnormalities displayed at a Turkish press conference. Posts asserted that the abnormalities resulted from the babies’ mothers receiving Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines, and used the images to support the further claim that the vaccines genetically alter people. The review identifies the speaker as Fatih Erbakan, chairman of Turkey’s New Welfare Party, and describes the event as a political press conference about his party’s position on vaccination—not a medical conference presenting research findings. The review checked the provenance of the images rather than relying on the claims made at the event. It reports that an archived version of the photo of a baby with a tail was found in the Wayback Machine, dated October 18, 2011; a photo of a baby with multiple limbs appeared in a 2016 article; and an image of a baby with excessive hair was already in a 2013 blog post. Those dates place the depicted images before the COVID-19 outbreak, so they cannot document effects of COVID-19 vaccines. The review also cautions that the cause of the abnormalities—and whether every image is authentic—is not clear for every photo. The press conference took place on September 16, 2021, after public criticism of Erbakan’s earlier vaccine statements. The review says that on September 13 he had claimed that vaccines affect the cell nucleus and DNA and could result in babies being born with three ears and five eyes. It explains that mRNA vaccines do not enter the cell nucleus and therefore do not alter human DNA. The photos’ documented pre-pandemic appearances directly undermine the claim that these particular abnormalities were caused by COVID-19 vaccination; they do not establish the medical cause of the conditions shown.

dpaHealth & medicine

Spaans ministerie van Volksgezondheid had tot 6/10/2021 de tijd om aan te tonen dat het SARS-CoV-2-virus bestaat en kon dat niet. Een geïsoleerd virus kon niet aangetoond worden. Alle coronamaatregelen in de provincie Madrid zijn opgeheven.

Publisher’s rating: De beweringen zijn fout. Er is hier verwarring over ministeriële bevoegdheid. Er zijn wel degelijk laboratoria in Spanje, en over de hele wereld, die het bestaan van het SARS-CoV-2-virus hebben aangetoond en het virus geïsoleerd hebben. In Madrid zijn de coronamaatregelen sinds begin oktober versoepeld, maar dat heeft niets te maken met een gebrek aan bewijs dat het virus echt is.

The post at issue claimed that Spain’s Ministry of Health had failed to prove SARS-CoV-2 exists, that the virus could not be isolated, and that all coronavirus measures in Madrid were therefore lifted. The review traces the post’s video to a response from the ministry to a public-records request. The document said the ministry did not have a SARS-CoV-2 cell culture for testing or a list of laboratories with the capacity to perform such work. The review explains that this describes what the ministry itself possessed or knew about, not whether the virus had been isolated elsewhere. The review reports that virus isolation is performed in laboratories with biosafety level 3 facilities, and names Spanish facilities that could do it. The University of Zaragoza had such a laboratory and isolated the virus in June 2020. The National Center for Biotechnology and the National Center for Microbiology, both under the Ministry of Science, are also identified as facilities of this kind. The review further states that SARS-CoV-2 had already been isolated repeatedly, beginning in China in January 2020, and that its full genome sequence was available online. The claim about Madrid also misrepresents the timing and scope of the changes. From 4 October, only a few restrictions remained in Madrid city and province; the mask requirement still applied in places including public transport and indoor public spaces. The review says these relaxations were unrelated to the ministry’s response or to any lack of evidence for the virus’s existence. Madrid’s easing was part of broader relaxations across Spain.

dpaHealth & medicine

Die angeführten Daten belegen, dass die Corona-Impfung unzureichend wirkt.

Publisher’s rating: Die Daten zeigen nicht, dass die Corona-Impfung unzureichend wirkt. Mit dem steigenden Anteil der geimpften Bevölkerung steigt rein statistisch auch die Anzahl der Impfdurchbrüche. Laut den Tiroler Kliniken hilft die Impfung gut und verhindert schwere Verläufe. Fast alle Patienten mit Impfdurchbrüchen seien immunsupprimiert, sehr alt, hätten Krebs oder eine Autoimmunerkrankung. In Israel zeigt sich indes die gute Wirksamkeit der Impf-Auffrischungen. Ungeimpfte sind am wenigsten geschützt. Studien zufolge lässt der Impfschutz vor allem bei Älteren nach einigen Monaten etwas nach.

dpaHealth & medicine

Le dépistage du cancer est une « arnaque » et la maladie se soigne très bien par la vitamine C.

Publisher’s rating: L’arnaque est en réalité dans le message, farfelu. D’une part, le dépistage du cancer augmente les chances de survie et de médication la plus douce possible des patients qui sont atteints par la maladie ; d’autre part, la vitamine C n’a jamais permis de guérir un cancer, témoignent plusieurs experts interrogés par la dpa.

The claim came from a Facebook post referring to the breast-cancer-awareness campaign Pink October. It said screening was a “scam” and that cancer could be treated with vitamin C. The review reports that medical specialists contacted by dpa rejected the vitamin C treatment claim and described screening as beneficial while also noting that its risks and benefits require nuance. The article identifies the post as widely circulated online, but does not provide its original posting date or a link to the post. Medical oncologist Yves Humblet, a professor emeritus at UCLouvain, told dpa that vitamin C alone had never cured cancer and that no credible randomized study supported using it as a treatment. On screening, he said evidence from cohort studies, randomized studies and mathematical models showed a reduced risk of death from breast cancer among women aged 50–70, while also warning that screening can lead to overtreatment of small cancers. Other specialists quoted in the review backed those points. Anne Boucquiau, medical director and French-language spokesperson for the Belgian Cancer Foundation, said early detection can improve the length and quality of life of people with cancer and increase the chances of lighter treatment. She also rejected vitamin C as a preventive or curative treatment and warned it may interact with some cancer treatments. An oncologist-hematologist likewise said vitamin C is not recommended during chemotherapy because it can interfere with treatment.

APA - Austria Presse AgenturHealth & medicine

Die Zahl der Geimpften in Tiroler Spitälern ist ein Beleg für eine unzureichende Wirksamkeit der Impfung.

Publisher’s rating: Die Daten zeigen nicht, dass die Corona-Impfung unzureichend wirkt. Rein statistisch steigt mit dem Anteil der geimpften Bevölkerung auch die Anzahl der Impfdurchbrüche. Laut den Tiroler Kliniken hilft die Impfung gut und verhindert schwere Verläufe. Fast alle Patienten mit Impfdurchbrüchen seien immunsupprimiert, sehr alt, hätten Krebs oder eine Autoimmunerkrankung. In Israel zeigt sich unterdessen die gute Wirksamkeit der Impf-Auffrischungen. Ungeimpfte sind am wenigsten geschützt. Was stimmt ist, dass der Impfschutz Studien zufolge vor allem bei Älteren nach einigen Monaten etwas nachlässt.