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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

Warm water is 100% effective in resolving health issues including epilepsy, asthma, joint pains, migraines, high blood pressure, among other problems

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media post claiming that drinking warm water will resolve several health problems, including epilepsy, asthma, joint pains and migraines, and that Japanese doctors validated the treatment. It says the post also lists high blood pressure among the ailments. The review distinguishes the general value of hydration from the much stronger claim that warm water cures those conditions: it reports that there is no direct scientific evidence establishing such a cure or a direct connection between warm-water consumption and curing the ailments named in the post. [S1]

dpaHealth & medicine

Der dänische Fußballspieler Christian Eriksen ist wegen einer Covid-Impfung zusammengebrochen. Der Chef seines italienischen Teams hat die Impfung bestätigt.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keine Belege dafür, dass Christian Eriksen zum Zeitpunkt des Spiels am 12. Juni 2021 gegen Covid-19 geimpft war. Der Teamarzt der dänischen Nationalmannschaft widerspricht dem genauso wie der Manager des italienischen Fussballvereins Inter Mailand, für den Eriksen spielt. Auch sei Eriksen noch nicht mit Sars-CoV-2 infiziert gewesen.

The claim concerns Christian Eriksen’s collapse during Denmark’s European Championship match against Finland on 12 June 2021. The review says social-media users attributed the incident to an alleged Covid-19 vaccination. It reports that there was no evidence Eriksen had been vaccinated by the time of the match, and that the claim of confirmation by Inter Milan’s leadership is contradicted by the club manager’s statement.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

కోవిడ్ వ్యాక్సిన్లను నిరాకరించినందుకు గాను ఇప్పటికే హైతీ, టాంజానియా, బురుండి, ఐవరీ కోస్ట్, యస్వతిని (ఒకప్పుడు స్వాజిలాండ్) దేశాల అధినేతలు హత్యలకు గురైనారు, మాడగాస్కర్ అధ్యక్షుడిపై హత్యా ప్రయత్నాలు జరుగుతున్నాయి

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

dpaHealth & medicine

Net gelekt contract tussen Pfizer en Albanië laat zien dat ivermectine als medicijn tegen COVID-19 werd geblokkeerd.

Publisher’s rating: Het bericht bevat onwaarheden en trekt de tekst van het conceptcontract uit context. Het contract is niet ‘net gelekt’, maar staat in werkelijkheid al sinds januari 2021 online. Het gaat daarnaast om een conceptversie. Dit is dus niet het daadwerkelijk ondertekende contract. Het document is daarnaast niet als bewijs te gebruiken voor beweringen dat ivermectine als medicijn tegen COVID-19 werd geblokkeerd. Er is (nog) geen overtuigend wetenschappelijk bewijs dat dit medicijn werkt tegen deze ziekte.

The claim arose from social-media posts about a purported Pfizer–Albania contract, which said the document showed ivermectin had been blocked as a COVID-19 treatment. The review says the document was a draft, not the signed agreement, and that it cannot establish the claim. It also reports that the document had been online since January 2021, rather than being newly leaked when the posts circulated. The final agreement was not public, so the review could not verify whether its terms differed from the draft. The posts relied on a passage about what would happen if another medicine or vaccine received authorization earlier. The review’s translation of that passage says it described continuing need for protection against COVID-19, not a prohibition on ending the contract or blocking a particular treatment. It notes that ivermectin is not named anywhere in the draft. The conclusion that the clause proves ivermectin was deliberately held back therefore goes beyond what the cited text says.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

මහින්ද ජයසිංහගේ බිරිඳටත් ඩෙල්ටා ප්‍රභේදය වැළදෙයි | Mahinda Jayasinghe's wife detected with Delta variant

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim under review was that Mahinda Jayasinghe’s wife had contracted the COVID-19 Delta variant. The article describes a Facebook post making that allegation and places it amid protests by teachers’ unions over withdrawing from online teaching. It identifies Jayasinghe as the general secretary of the Lanka Teachers’ Service Union, whose organizers were being targeted by false claims. The review’s conclusion is that the allegation was not supported by the checks it reports. The publisher says it contacted the area public health inspector for the Gampaha District address where Jayasinghe lived. According to the article, the inspector checked the address and said the report was untrue; the household was also absent from the list of homes and people under quarantine. The publisher separately asked Jayasinghe, who denied the claim and said his family was in good health. These are the article’s reported checks and statements, not independent testing by PeakMetrics. The conclusion is limited to the information available at the time of the review. The article says its assessment relied on local health officials’ confirmation that no COVID-19 symptoms had been reported in Jayasinghe’s household, and acknowledges that this did not establish whether someone could have been infected without symptoms. It therefore supports the conclusion that the circulating claim lacked confirmation in the checks described, rather than proving that infection was impossible.

APA - Austrian Presse AgenturHealth & medicine

Vom Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte (EGMR) wurde ein Verbot der Impfpflicht beschlossen.

Publisher’s rating: Der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte (EGMR) hat kein Verbot der Impfpflicht beschlossen. Die Parlamentarische Versammlung des Europarats hat in einer Resolution lediglich empfohlen, dass alle Bürger informiert sind, dass die Corona-Impfung nicht verpflichtend ist. Resolutionen der Parlamentarischen Versammlung sind für die Mitgliedsstaaten nicht rechtsverbindlich.

The claim arose in widely shared Facebook posts asserting that the European Court of Human Rights (EGMR) had prohibited mandatory vaccination and that vaccination requirements were therefore “now standardly illegal.” The APA review traces the posts’ cited support to a blog article, which in turn relied on Resolution 2361/2021. The review’s central distinction is between the EGMR and the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly: the Assembly adopted the resolution; it was not an EGMR judgment prohibiting vaccination requirements. The resolution, adopted on 27 January 2021, addresses ethical and practical considerations around COVID-19 vaccination, including distribution and prioritization. Its section 7.3 says people should be informed that vaccination is not mandatory and that no one should be pressured to be vaccinated or discriminated against for remaining unvaccinated. The review explains that this language is a recommendation, not a binding legal prohibition: it cites a German Bundestag information note and the Council of Europe’s own information about the legal status of Assembly resolutions. By contrast, the review says EGMR judgments are binding on the states concerned. As a further check specific to the date of the resolution, the APA review reports that the EGMR’s website listed no judgments or decisions issued on 27 January 2021. It also notes that the resolution could have political influence, but that this does not make it legally binding. The cited material therefore supports the conclusion that the posts confused a non-binding Parliamentary Assembly recommendation with a binding court decision; it does not establish an EGMR ban on mandatory vaccination.

dpaHealth & medicine

Mit dem Corona-Impfstoff wird Menschen ein sogenanntes Spike-Protein verabreicht, das giftig ist.

Publisher’s rating: In den Corona-Vakzinen sind keine Spike-Proteine des Virus enthalten. Sie werden nach der Injektion vom Körper produziert und es gibt keine Belege, dass sie giftig sind.

The claim reviewed concerned an article quoting Canadian scientist Byram Bridle as saying that the spike protein was a toxin and that vaccination therefore injected people with one. The article also linked the alleged toxicity to cardiovascular damage and infertility. The dpa review examined those assertions in relation to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines.