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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.

13,676 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Op Facebook wordt gesteld: "Als een persoon 5 griepspuiten heeft gehad, is de kans om Alzheimer te krijgen 10 x groter dan de niet-gevaccineerde persoon." Als bron wordt dr. H. Fudenberg aangehaald, die "meer dan 80 rapporten over medicijnen, biologie en immunologie" op zijn naam zou hebben staan. In de griepvaccins zou onder meer Thimerosal zitten, dat tot kwikvergiftiging kan leiden.

Publisher’s rating: De stelling is fout. Er is geen enkel bewijs dat inenting tegen griep het risico op alzheimer verhoogt. Ook de getoonde beweerde samenstelling van het griepvaccin is fout.

Vera FilesHealth & medicine

A vaccine is an antibody produced by the body to fight infection.

Publisher’s rating: False

Research from related reporting describes vaccines as preparations that contain antigens—harmless pieces or weakened forms of pathogens—that stimulate an immune response. It separately describes antibodies as proteins made by the immune system to identify and neutralize invaders. The distinction reverses the claim’s definition: antibodies can be produced after vaccination, but they are not what a vaccine is. The report says that antibodies can act against a pathogen and that vaccination also creates immune memory through memory B and T cells. Thus, describing a vaccine as an antibody produced by the body confuses the preparation administered with part of the body’s subsequent immune response.

BBC Reality CheckHealth & medicine

Ivermectin will save you from Covid-19

Publisher’s rating: There's no evidence to support this claim. The Pan American Health Organization says ivermectin "is incorrectly being used for the treatment of Covid-19 without any scientific evidence of its efficacy and safety for the treatment of this disease".

Vishvas NewsHealth & medicine

பதஞ்சிலுக்கு இறுதியாக அனுமதி கிடைத்தது. ஆயுஷ் அமைச்சகத்தால் அனுமதி வழங்கப்பட்டது. இந்தியாவின் ஆயுர்வேத அடையாளம் இப்போது கொரோனாவுக்கு 600 ரூபாயில் சிகிச்சை அளிக்கப்படும்

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral post claimed that Patanjali had finally received AYUSH Ministry approval to treat coronavirus for Rs 600, and presented a letter as proof. Vishvas News says its investigation found that the letter did not approve a coronavirus treatment: it confirmed receipt of documents that Patanjali had submitted after the ministry requested information. The review describes the document as “the confirmation of the documents sent by Patanjali to the ministry,” rather than a certificate authorizing COVID-19 treatment. (The quoted Tamil text says the letter was confirmation of documents received.) The review traces the episode to June 23, when Swami Ramdev’s Divya Yoga Pharmacy launched Coronil with claims that it could cure coronavirus. It reports that the AYUSH Ministry then stopped the medicine’s promotion and sought details from the company. On June 24, Patanjali spokesperson S. K. Tijarawala said the requested information had been sent; the ministry’s email, shown in a tweet and later circulated as a “certificate,” acknowledged receipt and said the documents would be examined. The review states that this acknowledgment was the basis for the misleading viral interpretation. The decisive distinction is between permission to sell Coronil as an immunity booster and authorization to sell it as a coronavirus cure. The review says that, after considering the submitted documents, the ministry permitted conditional sale but barred promotion as a coronavirus medicine. It also reports that sales were subject to the state drug controller’s licence and that the product could be sold only as an immunity booster. Thus the letter and subsequent conditional permission did not support the post’s claim of a Rs 600 coronavirus treatment.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Video of Amitabh Bachchan applauding doctors, nurses and health staff of Nanavati hospital after he was admitted for COVID-19 treatment

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video of Amitabh Bachchan applauding doctors, nurses and other Nanavati hospital staff, presented as having been recorded after his admission for COVID-19 treatment. The review confirms that Bachchan tested positive and was admitted to the Mumbai hospital on 11 July 2020, but distinguishes that admission from when the video was made. It reports that the video was already online by April 2020, before the admission described in the claim. To investigate the video’s history, the review says it used reverse image searches on screenshots and found the same video on YouTube, with a title identifying Bachchan, Nanavati hospital and health workers, and a timestamp of 22 April 2020. It also reports that Nanavati hospital said the video was taken in April. Those earlier dates are the decisive evidence: the footage predates Bachchan’s July admission, so it cannot show him making the recording after that admission.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Ärzte und Krankenschwester sollen in Frankreich ihre Kittel niedergelegt haben, nachdem der «Corona Schwindel» (sic!) aufgeflogen ist. Das behaupten zumindest einige User in sozialen Medien. Dazu werden oft ein Video oder Bilder eines Videos geteilt, die tatsächlich medizinisches Personal beim Protest zeigen. In manchen Fällen ist neben diesem Video auch ein anderes mit demonstrierenden Polizisten zu sehen.

Publisher’s rating: Der gezeigte Protest von medizinischem Personal hat nichts mit der Corona-Krise zu tun, sondern entstand bereits davor.

The claim attached a coronavirus-related explanation to footage of medical staff protesting in France. The review traced the footage to an earlier event: it says that versions with the same scenes had been on YouTube since January and that the video of the French news magazine L’Obs placed the recording at Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris on 14 January. It also reports finding social-media posts sharing the material in January. To check the context, the review used searches for the French terms “l’hôpital Saint-Louis 14 janvier” and located reporting about the incident. It says CNEWS reported that doctors were protesting the government and seeking attention for conditions at their hospital. The review further describes the protest as inspired by French lawyers’ earlier protest against pension reform. This evidence places the medical-staff footage in January, before the pandemic-related context asserted in the social-media claim. The review also distinguishes a second, sometimes-shared video showing police officers placing handcuffs on the ground. It identifies that clip as a report by French broadcaster LCI and says the officers were protesting then-Interior Minister Christophe Castaner over his proposed ban on a controversial arrest technique. Thus, that footage too depicts a separate protest, not an action about coronavirus.