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Articles tagged with: COVID-19
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...
Viral New York Post article perpetuates the unfounded claim that the virus that causes COVID-19 is manmade
in New York Post, by Steven W. Mosher
— 02 Mar 2020
Overall, Mosher’s argument is based on unfounded speculation and scientific inaccuracies. Such claims, which continue to be perpetuated even by public officials, have real-world ...
CLAIM REVIEWS
Claim that hydroxychloroquine is an effective early treatment for COVID-19 isn’t supported by evidence from clinical trials
CLAIM
“The FDA hid the evidence that HCQ [hydroxychloroquine] was effective in the early treatment of the disease. Hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of this lie.”
SOURCE: Jim Hoft, Harvey Risch, Gateway Pundit
Published: 25 Sep 2022
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccines provide important benefits; SSRN preprint didn’t find COVID-19 vaccines to be “98 times worse” than the virus
CLAIM
“Covid-19 Vaccines 98 Times Worse Than the Virus”
SOURCE: Jim Hoft, Jonas Vesterberg, Gateway Pundit, The Florida Standard
Published: 22 Sep 2022
VERDICT
The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective; claim that they have caused an “international medical crisis” is baseless
CLAIM
“there is an international medical crisis due to the diseases and deaths co-related to the administration of products known as ‘COVID-19 vaccines’”
SOURCE: Social media users, One America News Network, Daily Sceptic
Published: 19 Sep 2022
VERDICT
Denmark didn’t ban COVID-19 vaccines for people under 50
CLAIM
Denmark banned COVID-19 vaccines for anyone under 50
SOURCE: Clay Travis, Toby Young, OutKick, Substack
Published: 18 Sep 2022
VERDICT
Mike Adams’ flawed analysis of a clot sent by embalmer Richard Hirschman doesn’t demonstrate any link between blood clots and COVID-19 vaccines
CLAIM
Embalmers find “strange clots” in corpses since the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines
SOURCE: Richard Hirschman, Mike Adams, The Epoch Times, Natural News
Published: 12 Sep 2022
VERDICT
Unsubstantiated claims by Michael Palmer and Sucharit Bhakdi don’t demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccines harm organs
CLAIM
mRNA vaccines cause “vascular and organ damage” that can lead to death
SOURCE: Michael Palmer, Sucharit Bhakdi, Doctors for COVID Ethics
Published: 03 Sep 2022
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of death, contrary to Mark Steyn’s misleading interpretation of mortality data
CLAIM
“[T]he peak of vaccine mandates in America […] coincides with massive excess mortality among people in the prime of life”
SOURCE: Mark Steyn, GB News
Published: 29 Aug 2022
VERDICT
Unvaccinated people are twice as likely to die from COVID-19 in San Diego county; vaccines don’t cause COVID-19, contrary to claim by Shaun Frederikson
CLAIM
“67% of the deaths are from the vaccinated”; “67% of your COVID deaths that you’re creating are from your virus that you’re putting within these people”
SOURCE: Shaun Frederikson, Kusi News
Published: 23 Aug 2022
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of pregnancy complications; Pfizer’s clinical trial didn’t show increased rate of miscarriage in pregnant women
CLAIM
“44 Percent of Pregnant Women in Pfizer Trial Lost Their Babies”
SOURCE: Naomi Wolf, Daily Clout, War Room Battleground
Published: 23 Aug 2022
VERDICT
Analysis of Dutch cities’ mortality doesn’t show that COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of death, contrary to Alex Berenson’s interpretation
CLAIM
“New paper suggests Covid mRNA vaccination rates are linked to increases in overall deaths”
SOURCE: Alex Berenson, Substack
Published: 17 Aug 2022
VERDICT
INSIGHTS
Shedding light on LinkedIn’s enforcement of health misinformation policies: A pilot study
— 26 Apr 2022
Summary of findings The career- and business-oriented social media platform LinkedIn has been absent from the public conversation around the topic of health misinformation, as comp...
Assessing the effect of COVID-19 vaccines on mortality: a story of confounding factors and their role in COVID-19 misinformation
— 15 Mar 2022
Introduction COVID-19 vaccines have been instrumental in our fight against the pandemic and our return to a normal life, thanks to their ability to reduce the number of cases, hosp...
Infection-induced immunity versus vaccine-induced immunity: Weighing the benefits and risks
— 03 Nov 2021
Introduction Multiple articles and social media posts have debated the strength of infection-induced immunity—commonly referred to as natural immunity—compared to vaccina...
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...
What has been the effect of the pandemic on the suicide rate of the U.S. population?
— 21 Jun 2021
Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic prompted countries everywhere to take measures to reduce the spread of the disease. One of these measures, which has proven to be effective (as c...
What is known about the claims that the Wuhan Institute of Virology conducted research to bioengineer bat coronaviruses?
— 15 Jun 2021
Image: Scanning electron microscope image showing SARS-CoV-2 (round gold objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Credit NIAID-RML Introduction One of the q...
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...