Claim reviews
Bananas may be healthy, but consuming them won’t treat gastrointestinal diseases nor limit the replication of HIV
CLAIM
“Bananas are a powerful antiviral food—so powerful that they have the capacity to repel growth of the retrovirus HIV“
SOURCE: Anthony William, Medical Medium
Published: 02 Mar 2021
VERDICT
Pregnant women can decide whether to receive the COVID-19 vaccine; safety monitoring suggests that COVID-19 vaccines don’t pose any specific risk for pregnant women
CLAIM
“Health officials push pregnant women to get covid shots, despite known risks”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Children’s Health Defense
Published: 01 Mar 2021
VERDICT
More evidence needed for the claim that vitamin D supplements reduce risk of COVID-19 infection
CLAIM
“Habitual use of vitamin D supplements was associated with a 34% lower risk of COVID-19 infection”; “This is an observational study so causation cannot be established”
SOURCE: Rhonda Patrick, Instagram
Published: 22 Feb 2021
VERDICT
The number of new COVID-19 cases fell and daily vaccination increased in early 2021, but no indication that it was due to U.S. president Biden taking office
CLAIM
COVID-19 cases are “down by 50%” and “daily vaccinations have increased by 85%” since “Biden took office”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Occupy Democrats
Published: 22 Feb 2021
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccines don’t increase the incidence of poor outcomes during pregnancy, according to current safety data on COVID-19 vaccines
CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccines caused miscarriages
SOURCE: Facebook users, Twitter, Facebook
Published: 19 Feb 2021
VERDICT
Misleading to compare the safety of COVID-19 and flu vaccines based solely on VAERS reports; VAERS reports alone cannot demonstrate that a vaccine caused an adverse event
CLAIM
One person is 300 to 900 times “more likely to die” after getting the COVID-19 vaccine than the flu vaccine; “Adverse events are widely underreported”
SOURCE: Alex Berenson, Twitter, Facebook
Published: 17 Feb 2021
VERDICT
The CDC didn’t introduce a “major rule change” to inflate COVID-19 deaths; there have been more than 490,000 excess deaths in the U.S. to date
CLAIM
“CDC illegally inflated the COVID fatality number by at least 1,600 percent”; “the NVSS COVID-19 Alert No. 2 [deemphasized] underlying causes of death [...] by recording them in Part II rather than Part I of death certificates [...] This was a major rule change [...] from the 2003 guidance on certification of death
SOURCE: Patty McMurray, Gateway Pundit
Published: 14 Feb 2021
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccines protect individuals from developing the disease and are necessary tools to end the pandemic along with physical distancing measures
CLAIM
There is no reason to get COVID-19 vaccines because vaccinated people can still get sick and are still required to wear masks
SOURCE: Facebook Users, Facebook
Published: 12 Feb 2021
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use prevent the disease and are generally safe based on rigorous clinical trials and ongoing monitoring
CLAIM
“No one can possibly know if the [COVID-19] vaccine is safe and effective because the trial is still underway; “Thousands of people who had the vaccine have died or been seriously injured by it”
SOURCE: Vernon Coleman, Charlie Ward
Published: 11 Feb 2021
VERDICT
Article claiming that masks contribute to cancer development misrepresents a study about lung cancer that didn’t involve masks
CLAIM
“Long-term Mask Use May Contribute to Advanced Stage Lung Cancer, Study Finds”
SOURCE: Philip Schneider, Blacklisted News, GlobalResearch.ca
Published: 10 Feb 2021
VERDICT