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Articles tagged with: Coronavirus
ARTICLE REVIEWS
Washington Times article by Robert Malone and Peter Navarro relies on inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims about virus evolution, vaccine immunity, and COVID-19 vaccine safety
in Washington Times, by Robert Malone and Peter Navarro
— 15 Aug 2021
"This article has inaccuracies throughout with a clear view to push an anti-vaccine agenda. The picture depicting a skull with eyes and nose made of coronaviruses in the shape of t..
Misleading Wall Street Journal opinion piece makes the unsubstantiated claim that the U.S. will have herd immunity by April 2021
in Wall Street Journal, by Marty Makary
— 26 Feb 2021
"The article’s claim that the U.S. is near herd immunity rests on two numbers: 1) the detection of infections by testing (claimed to be 10 – 25 percent) and 2) the infection fa..
New York Post article makes speculative, unsupported claim that mutation could enable the virus causing COVID-19 to evade handwashing and mask-wearing
in New York Post, by Jackie Salo
— 08 Oct 2020
"The preprint that the article focuses on actually says nothing about the most egregious claim made in the article: that the virus is evolving to get around hand-washing, masks, et..
Telegraph article describing the hypothesis that face masks can variolate a population receives mixed reviews on its scientific accuracy
in The Telegraph, by Georgina Hayes
— 24 Sep 2020
"The Telegraph headline is obviously misleading but the subheading is accurate. Masks don’t give immunity; rather, the argument is that infections are milder or asymptomatic and ..
Potential role for T cells in COVID-19 immunity accurately reported in National Geographic article
in National Geographic, by Carrie Arnold
— 19 Aug 2020
"The article accurately discusses the recent findings about the presence/relevance of T cell response against COVID-19. Indeed, both arms of adaptive immunity, humoral and cellular..
People who do not show symptoms can contribute to significant COVID-19 transmission, contrary to CNBC report
in CNBC, by William Feuer, Noah Higgins-Dunn
— 10 Jun 2020
there is already “abundant data” showing that people who are not showing symptoms—which could include asymptomatic, presymptomatic, and paucisymptomatic individuals—compris...
COVID-19 vaccine candidate by Pittsburgh scientists show promising results in animal studies, but clinical trials still needed before efficacy in humans is known
in Pittsburgh Magazine, by Garret Roberts
— 11 Apr 2020
Scientists who reviewed this article’s scientific credibility found that the reporting was generally accurate. However, they also highlighted a missed opportunity to provide read...
CLAIM REVIEWS
Justin Bieber’s facial paralysis is caused by a viral infection; no evidence that COVID-19 vaccine played a role
CLAIM
Ramsay Hunt syndrome that caused Justin Bieber’s facial paralysis is linked to the COVID-19 vaccine
SOURCE: Social media users, Steve Kirsch, Facebook, Twitter, Substack
Published: 16 Jun 2022
VERDICT
Scientific evidence shows that mask-wearing is effective at limiting community transmission; claims that face masks increase mortality are based on flawed correlation studies
CLAIM
“Countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage”; “Mask Mandates [are] Associated With Increased Covid Death Rate”
SOURCE: Zacharias Foegen, Townhall Media, The National Pulse
Published: 11 Jun 2022
VERDICT
Following COVID-19 vaccination, the spike protein is produced in small quantities in the body without causing harm and is cleared naturally within days
CLAIM
“[Spike] is harmful to the human body in at least eight different ways [and] can persist in the human body for weeks, or even months, after a person gets vaccinated”
SOURCE: Roma Balmakov, The Epoch Times
Published: 25 May 2022
VERDICT
Event 201 isn’t evidence that authorities knew or planned the COVID-19 pandemic
CLAIM
Event 201 is evidence that officials already knew about COVID-19
SOURCE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Facebook
Published: 20 May 2022
VERDICT
The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing severe disease and other complications outweigh the risk of myocarditis, which is higher after COVID-19 itself
CLAIM
“they were not able to find a single healthy child in america that died from COVID-19 […] but one in every 2700 people are getting myocarditis”; “athletes are collapsing on playing fields as for myocarditis and it's from the vaccines”; Moderna patent filed in 2019 is linked to the pandemic
SOURCE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., This Past Weekend with Theo Von
Published: 18 May 2022
VERDICT
Multiple studies show that COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause pregnancy or fertility problems, despite widespread claims on social media
CLAIM
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines accumulate in the ovaries, change menstrual cycles, and lead the immune system to mount “an immune response to their own placental protein”
SOURCE: James Thorp, Michael Yeadon, The Epoch Times
Published: 07 May 2022
VERDICT
Fox News article listing alleged mistakes in COVID-19 public health response mixes accurate information with unsubstantiated claims
CLAIM
Natural immunity protects better than vaccination; “the mortality risk of an un-boosted person under age 30 was zero”; cloth face masks, school closures had zero benefits for children and some harm
SOURCE: Marty Makary, Fox News
Published: 23 Mar 2022
VERDICT
Pfizer’s confidential document shows adverse events reported following vaccination; it doesn’t demonstrate that the vaccine caused the events or is unsafe
CLAIM
Safety surveillance data in the Pfizer’s document shows harmful effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
SOURCE: Liz Wheeler, John Campbell, Social media users, Children's Health Defense, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
Published: 11 Mar 2022
VERDICT
Claim that COVID-19 deaths have been “vastly overcounted” is baseless; the evidence suggests the opposite
CLAIM
“COVID Deaths Have Been Vastly Overcounted”
SOURCE: Joseph Mercola, Epoch Times
Published: 10 Mar 2022
VERDICT
Study by Lund University researchers didn’t show that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines change our DNA
CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is converted to DNA and enters the cell’s nucleus, so the vaccines can potentially change our DNA
SOURCE: Meiling Lee, Epoch Times
Published: 07 Mar 2022
VERDICT
INSIGHTS
Copypasta of an ICU doctor’s tweet stokes COVID-19 skepticism by mimicking bot-like behavior
— 29 Jul 2021
Introduction The spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has put many countries back on high alert. Both the U.S. and the U.K. have seen the Delta variant become the predominant ...
Understanding causality in adverse events after vaccination
— 15 Jul 2021
Introduction Whether you’re watching the news or scrolling through your social media feeds, you’re certain to come across content about COVID-19 vaccines. This is unsurprising...
How were mRNA vaccines developed for COVID-19?
— 02 Jun 2021
The vaccines for COVID-19 produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were the first mRNA vaccines authorized for use in the general public. mRNA vaccines were a long-standing ambition...
“Plandemic: Indoctornation” video rehashes debunked claims and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines
— 20 Aug 2020
Plandemic is a pseudo-documentary produced by American filmmaker Mikki Willis, whose first instalment was published in May 2020. Featuring an interview with anti-vaccination activi...
Computing Forever interview with Dolores Cahill contains numerous inaccuracies about COVID-19 and vaccines
— 22 May 2020
This video, first published on 11 May 2020, features an interview between Dave Cullen, also known as Computing Forever on YouTube, and Dolores Cahill, a professor at University Col...
“Plandemic” vignette featuring anti-vaccination activist Judy Mikovits contains numerous false and unsupported claims about COVID-19
— 08 May 2020
This video is the first in a series of vignettes preceding a movie titled “Plandemic”. First published on 5 May 2020, it quickly went viral on Facebook, with more than 2.2 mill...
Did the COVID-19 virus originate from a lab or nature? Examining the evidence for different hypotheses of the novel coronavirus’ origins
— 24 Apr 2020
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019, many hypotheses have been advanced to explain where the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) actually came from. Initial re...