Search Results for coronavirus

Claim that French study showed long COVID doesn’t exist misinterprets the study and fails to account for its limitations

Persistent symptoms of illness despite recovery from an initial infection have been documented by scientists following various bacterial and viral infections, such as in the case of myalgic encephalitis (ME), more commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Long COVID, which bears some similarities to ME, is a poorly understood condition in which COVID-19 survivors continue to experience symptoms of illness weeks to months after recovering from the initial infection. These symptoms include fatigue, difficulty breathing, and difficulty thinking clearly, and can significantly impact a person’s quality of life.

Tromethamine in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children acts to improve the stability of the vaccine; it isn’t in the vaccine as a heart medication

In October 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11. The vaccine is adapted for children and contains one-third of the dosage approved for adults. Furthermore, the vaccine for children comes in a slightly different solution that contains tromethamine. This new formulation improves vaccine stability and ease of storage, as the vaccine can be kept in the fridge for longer periods of time compared to the original vaccine.

Italy didn’t change its definition of COVID-19 deaths; the disease killed more than 130,000 Italians

The underlying cause of death is a medical event that triggers a chain of clinical reactions that leads to the death of a patient. Pre-existing medical conditions may weaken a patient’s resistance to diseases, but they aren’t the cause of death. Deaths are attributed to COVID-19 if the patient had a SARS-CoV-2 infection and the clinical circumstances of the death are compatible with the disease. Even though most Italian COVID-19 deceased patients had pre-existing conditions, COVID-19 is responsible for their demise.

There is no evidence that luciferase is an ingredient in the COVID-19 vaccines

Bioluminescence is a process by which chemical reactions generate light. One such chemical reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase, which transforms luciferin into light. This process is used in lab research to monitor biological processes, and luciferase was used in the development and evaluation of COVID-19 vaccines. However, luciferase is not an ingredient in any of the COVID-19 vaccines approved or authorized in the U.S.

Article by The Exposé failed to account for caveats listed in U.K. vaccine surveillance reports; falsely claims fully vaccinated people have weakened immunity

Vaccine effectiveness measures the proportionate reduction in the risk of an outcome, such as infection, symptomatic disease, and hospitalization. The COVID-19 vaccines have demonstrated a high level of effectiveness in reducing disease, hospitalization, and death. As such, vaccinated people are much less likely to fall ill and develop severe disease compared to unvaccinated people.

No evidence suggests that Pfizer’s smoking cessation medication Chantix increases the risk of cancer; recall of this product is irrelevant to the safety of COVID-19 vaccines

The recall of Chantix, a smoking cessation aid developed by Pfizer, wasn’t related to the actual ingredients in the product. The company took this precautionary measure after finding nitrosamine impurities that exceeded the recommended limits in certain batches of the drug. Although some nitrosamines compounds may increase cancer risk in humans, there is no evidence that the particular one found in Chantix poses a health risk.

Infection-induced immunity versus vaccine-induced immunity: Weighing the benefits and risks

Introduction Multiple articles and social media posts have debated the strength of infection-induced immunity​​—commonly referred to as natural immunity—compared to vaccination when it comes to the best protection against COVID-19. Public health authorities like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that previously infected people get vaccinated. But scientific studies have … Continued

Social media post claiming that fully vaccinated people are “filling up” morgues and hospitals is based on flawed reasoning; unvaccinated people are actually over ten times more likely to die

Booster shots aim to bolster waning COVID-19 immunity over time. Although U.S. public health authorities are considering a change in the definition of “fully vaccinated”, no change to this definition was made as of 25 October 2021. But even without booster shots, fully vaccinated people are still 11 times less likely to die from the disease compared to unvaccinated individuals. Records of COVID-19 deaths in September and October 2021 from several states indicate that fully vaccinated people only account for about 20% of the COVID-19 deaths.

An investigation found no evidence that deaths of HIV-positive foster children enrolled in AIDS drug trials were caused by trial medication, contrary to recent claims

In 2004, author Liam Scheff published claims that New York City foster children who were HIV positive participated in experiments with AIDS drugs in the late 1980s and early 1990s that led to the deaths of children. An investigation by the Vera Institute of Justice found that 25 foster children died during the 88 trials and studies conducted in New York City between 1985 and 2005, but Vera did not find that any of the deaths were caused directly by the drugs from the trials. Additionally, while 81.3 percent of the clinical trials in New York City that involved foster children were funded by National Institutes of Health institutes, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci’s personal involvement in funding decisions cannot be determined.

The COVID-19 vaccines provide strong protection against hospitalization and death; number of vaccinated people in hospital does not indicate evidence against this

The vast majority of the adult population in the U.K. have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Clinical trials showed that the COVID-19 vaccines are about 95% effective against hospitalization and death. This means that when cases are high, as they are currently in the U.K., we would expect to see a small number of vaccinated people be admitted to hospital for COVID-19 and die. The numbers of deaths due to COVID-19 are much lower than seen in previous waves before vaccination was widely available. The likelihood of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 is higher for unvaccinated people, but as there are relatively few unvaccinated people in the country, they only account for a minority of the numbers.