Health & medicine fact checks

"I am for protecting pre-existing conditions. … I actually co-sponsored legislation to do just that."

Publisher’s rating: Mostly True

Says gloves shouldn’t be worn in public because “if you are wearing the same set of gloves all over town you are only spreading germs everywhere you go.”

Publisher’s rating: True

Foto de Jair Bolsonaro, presidente de Brasil, hospitalizado con una sonda por COVID-19.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

In “2004, US agencies seeking more funding changed the definition of pandemic from ‘rapidly spreading infection that kills a lot of people’ to ‘rapidly spreading infection.’”

Publisher’s rating: No Evidence

“When large numbers of people in Butler (Pa.) started killing themselves with narcotics, no one in Washington or New York or Los Angeles said a word about it.”

Publisher’s rating: Mostly False

”You can now sue the mRNA COVID vaccine manufacturers for damages and the FDA is required to take the COVID vaccines off the market. Why? Adulteration.”

Publisher’s rating: False

“Anybody that wants a test (for the coronavirus) can get a test.”

Publisher’s rating: Pants on Fire

Si un empleador exige vacunación contra el COVID-19, no reuncie. “Haga que lo despidan. De esa manera, obtendrá beneficios por desempleo”.

Publisher’s rating: Engañoso

“Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the COVID vaccine in the United States … The actual number is almost certainly higher.”

Publisher’s rating: False

”America has been vaccinating cattle for coronavirus for years, yet the news tells you it’s new and gunna kill you all so go buy mask.”

Publisher’s rating: False

Rod Stewart’s son “was rushed to the hospital … with a suspected heart attack” because of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Publisher’s rating: Pants on Fire

Research from related reporting identifies Ashley Hamilton as the person rushed to hospital in the incident at issue: it says he is George Hamilton’s son and that his stepfather was Rod Stewart. The report describes the emergency as overdose-related, saying Ashley was found at an Airbnb in Los Angeles and was taken to hospital after emergency workers responded to a call. It attributes the account to TMZ and says Ashley was in stable condition, citing sources. That account does not describe a suspected heart attack or say that a COVID-19 vaccine caused the hospitalization. It instead connects the incident to an overdose. The excerpt also reports Ashley’s history of addiction and past overdoses, but those details do not establish what caused this particular emergency beyond the report’s characterization of it as overdose-related.

“Excess mortality in Europe this year is 33% higher than the United States — evidence that the tragic cost of this virus is higher in other Western nations."

Publisher’s rating: Distorts the Facts

Photo shows people protesting against “vaccine tyranny” in France.

Publisher’s rating: False

"Bill Gates just admitted that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines don’t work well."

Publisher’s rating: False

“Wuhan Lab Leak Theory CONFIRMED.”

Publisher’s rating: False

“CDC COVID-19 survival rates” are 99.997% for people ages 0 to 19, 99.98% for people ages 20 to 49, 99.5% for people ages 50 to 69, and 94.6% for people over 70.

Publisher’s rating: False

"The United States is the ONLY industrialized country without universal healthcare."

Publisher’s rating: True

Says Donald Trump “cut funding to the CDC,” “fired the Pandemic Response Team,” “refused WHO tests” and “wasted two weeks calling this outbreak a ‘Democrat hoax.’”

Publisher’s rating: Mostly False

"All evidence points to the fact that our kids are 17 times more likely to have ill effects from the seasonal flu than they are from the coronavirus.”

Publisher’s rating: Mostly False

Danish study "“proves masks offer NO protection from COVID.”

Publisher’s rating: False