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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

FACTLYHealth & medicine

An Oxford University study finds fully vaccinated healthcare workers carry 251 times viral load compared to the unvaccinated proving that COVID-19 vaccines make you worse

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a preprint paper about Delta infections among double-vaccinated healthcare workers at a major infectious diseases hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It recasts the paper’s comparison as one between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. But the reported 251-fold comparison was between Delta breakthrough cases and cases infected with older strains detected in March–April 2020—not between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The review says the paper had no vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated comparison. The review describes its checking process: it searched for the Oxford study using the claim’s wording, found articles repeating the claim and citing the preprint, and compared the claim with the paper’s reported findings. It also reports that Reuters sought comment from Chi Ngo, a senior communications officer at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit. Ngo said the study explained Delta breakthrough cases among vaccinated healthcare workers and did not focus on comparing vaccinated with unvaccinated cases. The review adds that the paper was a preprint and had not been peer-reviewed, and notes that the cited Lancet guidance cautioned against presenting preprints as established findings without identifying them as preliminary. It also gives relevant context from the CDC and a later Oxford University–Office for National Statistics study: both are described as finding similar amounts of viral material in vaccinated and unvaccinated people infected with Delta, while the review says vaccination offers protection against symptomatic infection and reduces the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 in the first place. Those points do not turn the preprint’s comparison into evidence that vaccines make people worse.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

FACT CHECK: කොවිඩ් මර්දන මාත්‍රා 6ක් ගත් පුද්ගලයෙක්?

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examined a social-media image of a COVID-19 vaccination card that appeared to record six doses of three vaccine types—Sinopharm, Pfizer and Sputnik—and led some viewers to ask whether someone in Sri Lanka had received six doses. The publisher reports checking the card’s details with the Tangalle health authorities and Colombo’s chief health medical officer, as well as comparing its claims with the vaccination arrangements then in place. A key discrepancy was the listed vaccination location: the card named a “Ranna” health medical officer’s office, but the review says no such office existed and that Ranna came under the Tangalle office. Tangalle officials told the publisher that Sinopharm was the vaccine provided in the area; AstraZeneca had initially been supplied only to health workers. The review also notes that the card showed two doses each of three vaccine types, despite Sri Lanka not yet having started administering third doses. Its dates were not presented in sequence, and the card’s dose numbering did not match the stated way doses were recorded. The publisher says Colombo Municipal Council epidemiologist Dr. Dinuka Guruge identified the card as an edited fake, and chief health medical officer Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni confirmed that third doses had not begun and that mixing other vaccine types was not authorized locally. There was a limited exception to the general picture: people who received AstraZeneca first could receive Pfizer as their second dose, but the review says this applied to a small number of people. It concludes that the image was a fabricated card, apparently made to mock the vaccination program, rather than evidence that a person had received the six doses shown.

dpaHealth & medicine

Une commission d'enquête aux Pays-Bas a mis en place une ligne d'assistance téléphonique pour les décès dus aux vaccins contre le Covid-19. Les signalements sont trois fois plus nombreux comparés aux chiffres officiels.

Publisher’s rating: Cette affirmation manque de contexte. Le comité concerné est une initiative citoyenne, sans lien avec le gouvernement néerlandais. La méthode utilisée par ce comité pour comptabiliser les décès post-vaccination est incertaine, et n’a pas encore pu être vérifiée par les autorités sanitaires du pays.

dpaHealth & medicine

Video toont hoe kinderen waarvan één van de ouders positief test voor COVID-19 met macht gescheiden worden van hun ouders in Australië

Publisher’s rating: De beweringen zijn fout. De video is echt, maar de Australische politie verklaarde dat de gebeurtenissen er in niet gelinkt zijn aan COVID-19. Er is geen Australische maatregel die kinderen van ouders verplicht scheidt bij een coronabesmetting.

The claim attached a video of a child being separated from a man to an alleged Australian policy of removing children when a parent tests positive for COVID-19. The review describes the clip as showing a young girl pulled from a man’s arms by care workers and police, but says there is no conclusive evidence that the pair were father and daughter. It also found no evidence connecting the incident to the pandemic. The review reports that Victoria police addressed the circulating claim on Twitter and said the footage was “op geen enkele manier gerelateerd aan coronatests of -vaccinaties” (“in no way related to coronavirus tests or vaccinations”). In a statement to the Associated Press, police said the incident happened at Werribee police station on 14 August 2021. The review also reports that police described it to news.com.au as a “familiaal incident.” Police did not disclose further details, citing the privacy of those involved, including a minor. The review distinguishes the video’s real events from the claim’s explanation of them. It says Victoria’s rules required people who tested positive to quarantine at home and have as little contact as possible with other residents; it found no rule requiring children to be removed from their parents in that situation.