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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

dpaHealth & medicine

De coronavirusvarianten zijn al vooruit gepland tot februari 2023.

Publisher’s rating: De tabel is verzonnen en geen daadwerkelijke planning voor het loslaten van nieuwe varianten van het coronavirus. Het World Economic Forum, de Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie en de Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation laten weten dat de tabel niet van hen is. Ook klopt er weinig van de 'planning'. Varianten met een latere datum bestaan in werkelijkheid al maanden. Virusmutaties zijn een natuurlijk fenomeen en lastig te voorspellen.

The claim concerned an image circulated on Facebook that appeared to schedule coronavirus variants for release through February 2023. The chart showed Greek letters beginning with Delta, months from June 2021 to February 2023, and the heading “Lanzamiento” (“launch”); it also displayed logos for Johns Hopkins University, the World Economic Forum, the WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The review checked the alleged connection to those organizations and compared the chart’s dates with reported variant chronology. (S1: “Op het schema zijn de uitgeschreven letters uit het Griekse alfabet te zien, beginnende met delta. Daarnaast staan de maanden van juni 2021 tot februari 2023, met het kopje 'Lanzamiento' (lancering) erboven.”) The World Economic Forum told dpa that the document was fake and had no connection to it. The review also reports that the WHO and the Gates Foundation had already told other fact-checkers the chart was not theirs. Johns Hopkins did not respond to the image, and the review says it found no chart on the university’s website or other link between the university and the schedule. Thus, the logos did not substantiate the chart’s implied institutional backing. (S1: “Dit is een nepdocument en heeft niets te maken met het World Economic Forum,” zegt een woordvoerder. S1: “Ook is er geen andere link tussen Johns Hopkins en het schema te ontdekken.”) The dates themselves also conflict with the review’s account of events: Delta was assigned a June 2021 “launch” in the chart, but had first been observed in India in October 2020 and was classified by the WHO as a Variant of Interest on 4 April 2021. The review says Eta, Iota, Kappa and Lambda had also been observed in multiple places by late 2020. It explains that mutations occur naturally and that predicting when a significant new variant will emerge is difficult; the chart therefore did not establish a real plan for future variants. (S1: “Zo zou de deltavariant gepland staan voor juni 2021. Deze variant werd echter al voor het eerst in oktober 2020 in India gespot. Op 4 april 2021 werd het door de WHO geclassificeerd als Variant of Interest (VOI).” S1: “Voorspellen wanneer een nieuwe relevante mutatie de kop opsteekt, is lastig.”)

dpaHealth & medicine

Moderna en Pfizer 'gaven' controlegroep vaccin op tijdens klinische studies.

Publisher’s rating: Het bericht klopt niet. Tijdens de klinische studies naar veiligheid en werkzaamheid van de Moderna- en Pfizervaccins waren er controlegroepen van meer dan vijftienduizend mensen. Pas nadat deze studies waren afgerond en nadat de vaccins hun (voorlopige) goedkeuring hadden ontvangen, kregen deze mensen inderdaad een aanbod zich te laten vaccineren. Dat roept wel vragen op over de betrouwbaarheid van de vervolgstudies voor de lange termijn, die zich enkel nog richten op werkingsduur en bescherming tegen varianten.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Jacques Attali wrote about depopulation through pandemics in his 1981 book Verbatim

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media quote attributed to French economist Jacques Attali, alleging that he described a pandemic as a means of depopulating the world in his memoir Verbatim. FACTLY reports that it checked whether the quotation appears in that book and concludes it does not: the review says the quote “does not appear anywhere in his memoir book Verbatim” and that “the word pandemic does not appear anywhere in the entire book.” The excerpt describes Verbatim as a collection of Attali’s memories, dialogues and routine activities, covering 1981–1986. The review also distinguishes the alleged passage from material in another Attali-related book. It describes The Future of Life as a collection of interviews with Attali, authored by Michael Salomon, and reports that an exchange in it concerns old age and the social costs of people living longer. The review says this material was misrepresented as advocating depopulation through euthanasia; it does not present that exchange as evidence that the pandemic quotation appears in Verbatim. FACTLY’s conclusion is that the specific quotation was fabricated and falsely attributed to Attali and COVID-19. The review says it compared the claimed passage with the memoir and notes that similar fact-checks had been conducted by Snopes, AFP Factual and Poynter. The supplied excerpt does not describe those other outlets’ methods, so their reporting is not used here as independent verification.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

FACT CHECK: පොල් වතුර,ලුණු ,දෙහි මිශ්‍රණය කොවිඩ් සදහා ප්‍රතිකාරයක්ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review investigated a social-media message claiming that coconut water mixed with a teaspoon of salt and a lime cures COVID-19 within two hours. The message, attributed in the article to a Facebook post by Rohan Wijethunga and a WhatsApp image, also described an alleged case in which someone tested negative three days after taking the drink. The review says versions of the claim had circulated widely, including in Tamil-language posts, and traces its earlier circulation to Indonesia.

BR24-FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Der Corona-Vergleich von North Dakota und South Dakota zeigt, dass Maßnahmen wie Maskenpflicht und Lockdowns keine Wirkung haben. (Twitter-Grafik, Wissenschafler, AfD-Politiker im Allgäu)

Publisher’s rating: Der Corona-Vergleich von North Dakota und South Dakota im Zusammenhang mit der Wirksamkeit von Maksenpflicht und Lockdowns ist irreführend. Denn die Maßnahmen der beiden Staaten haben sich nicht so sehr unterschieden, wie von einigen verbreitet wird.

Fact CrescendoHealth & medicine

Claim: Explainer: கிட்னியா கல்லீரலா… தந்தையின் உயிரை காப்பாற்றிய பெண் பற்றிய உண்மை விவரம்! I Explainer for the rumor about a girl who donated her liver to her father

Publisher’s rating: Explainer

The review examined a social-media photograph of a father and daughter, accompanied by a claim that the father’s kidney had failed and his daughter donated one of her kidneys to save him. It traced the post to a Facebook account that shared it on August 2, 2021. The review noted that the photograph’s caption had been added in a photoshopped style and said the surgical scar looked more consistent with a liver transplant than a kidney transplant. To check the photograph’s provenance, the reviewers used reverse-image search. They identified the woman as Pooja Bijarnia and found reports from 2017 describing her as having donated part of her liver to her father. The review also says it found an interview in which Bijarnia explained that her father had liver cirrhosis, that a liver transplant was recommended in 2017, and that her liver was compatible with his. The review’s conclusion distinguishes the true donation from the false detail in the viral claim: Bijarnia did help her father by donating part of her liver, not a kidney. Thus, the image relates to a real donation, but the social-media description misidentifies the organ. The supplied excerpt does not provide further details about the original photograph or the operation.

dpaHealth & medicine

WHO paste definitie groepsimmuniteit aan, nu alleen door vaccinatie te bereiken.

Publisher’s rating: Het bericht is deels onjuist. De WHO heeft de definitie inderdaad op 13 november 2020 aangepast, maar dit op 31 december – slechts anderhalve maand later – weer terugveranderd. Volgens de huidige definitie is groepsimmuniteit dus zowel door vaccinatie als infecties te bereiken, maar de WHO spreekt wel de nadrukkelijke voorkeur voor eerstgenoemde route uit.

dpaHealth & medicine

Gaswagen der Nazis und Impfbus in Luxemburg - es hat sich nichts geändert.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keinerlei Zusammenhang zwischen Impfbussen und den sogenannten «Gas-Wagen» in Nazi-Deutschland.

The post compared a photograph of a Nazi-era truck with a photograph of a Luxembourg government vaccination bus, captioning them as a “German vaccination bus from the 40s” and a 2021 Luxembourg bus, followed by the claim that nothing had changed. The review identifies the first vehicle as a Saurer truck, not a vaccination bus, and explains that specially converted trucks of this and other types were used by Nazi Germany from early 1940. Their sealed cargo compartments were used to kill people, including patients near care homes or hospitals and Jewish victims. [S1: “Das eine zeigt einen Lastwagen des Typs «Saurer». Fahrzeuge dieses Typs wurden in speziell umgebauten Versionen ebenso wie Lastwagen anderer Hersteller seit Anfang 1940 von der nationalsozialistischen Regierung Deutschlands eingesetzt.”; “Sie dienten mit einem luftdicht verschließbaren Laderaum dazu, gemäß der Nazi-Theorien über «unwertes Leben» vor allem Kranke in unmittelbarer Nähe von Heimen oder Hospitälern zu vergasen.”] The other photograph showed a Luxembourg government “Impfbus.” According to the review, that bus had been operating in the country since July 27 to offer rapid vaccination, especially to hospital and care-home staff. The two vehicles therefore had different functions and histories: one was used in Nazi killings; the other offered people an opportunity to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The review says vaccination buses provided protection against severe illness with low risk, not a means of coercion or killing. [S1: “Das zweite Foto zeigt einen «Impfbus» der luxemburgischen Regierung. Er ist seit dem 27. Juli im Großherzogtum unterwegs, um vor allem Krankenhaus- und Pflegepersonal die Möglichkeit zu einer schnellen Impfung ohne Wartezeiten zu geben.”; “Impfbusse sind - nicht nur in Luxemburg, sondern in vielen Ländern - ein Angebot an die Bevölkerung, sich bei geringem Risiko mit einer Impfung gegen die Gefahr einer schweren Erkrankung an COVID-19 zu schützen.”] The review’s comparison turns on the false identification implied by the caption: the older vehicle was a gas van, not an “Impfbus.” It also notes that the post marked its description of the Nazi vehicle with a sarcasm emoji, suggesting the author may have known the literal label was false. But the post’s central assertion—that nothing had changed—would require a real connection between the Nazi killing vehicles and Luxembourg’s vaccination service. The review finds no such connection and distinguishes forced entry into vehicles used for organized murder from an offer of vaccination. [S1: “Die Behauptung über den «deutschen Impfbus» ist mit einem kleinen Emoji für «sarkastisch» versehen.”; “Impfbusse haben also nichts zu tun mit Lastwagen, die für die industriell organisierte Tötung von Menschen konstruiert wurden und zu deren Betreten Menschen mit Waffengewalt gezwungen wurden.”]

dpaHealth & medicine

Il y a de l'oxyde de graphène dans les vaccins contre le Covid-19.

Publisher’s rating: C’est faux. L’oxyde de graphène n’apparaît sur aucune des listes ou notices répertoriant les composants des vaccins contre le Covid-19 homologués en Europe et aux États-Unis. Le rapport d’un chercheur espagnol sur la présence d’oxyde de graphène dans une fiole supposée du vaccin de Pfizer possède de nombreuses failles, l’auteur précisant lui-même que l’origine du produit analysé est inconnue.

The claim concerned COVID-19 vaccines, including claims that Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines contained graphene oxide and that the substance had been found in a Pfizer vaccine sample. The review compared the allegation with the publicly available ingredient lists and product information for the four vaccines it says were authorized in the European Union: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson. It reports that graphene oxide does not appear in those lists. The review also notes that the Belgian medicines agency provides general information about vaccine contents. A separate strand of the allegation relied on an interim report by Spanish food-technology professor Pablo Campra Madrid. He examined a sample from a vial labeled Comirnaty, Pfizer/BioNTech’s brand name, which had been mailed to him by Ricardo Delgado Martin. Campra’s report described “strong evidence” of the probable presence of graphene derivatives, but also said microscopy did not provide conclusive evidence. Crucially, Campra called for analysis of other vials with verified origin, traceability and storage and transport controls. The review therefore explains that the sample’s identity as an actual vaccine was not established and that a single sample without appropriate protocols could not support a conclusion about the Pfizer vaccine. The review further reports that the document was not published in a scientific journal or peer-reviewed, and that the University of Almeria said it had not conducted a scientific study on the issue. The university described the sample as having unknown origin and no traceability. Taken together, the ingredient records and the limitations of the sample report do not substantiate the claim that the named vaccines contained graphene oxide. The review also says it found no reliable scientific evidence for the claim regarding Moderna, AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson.