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

Steve Kirsch promotes flawed study making false claim about COVID-19 vaccines and cancer risk

CLAIM
“Pathologist reports a stunning 52% increase in cancer risk for ages 15-59 who were vaxxed”

SOURCE: Steve Kirsch, Ivana Pavic, Substack, Instagram, Twitter

Published: 18 Mar 2024

VERDICT

No evidence that persistent symptoms are more frequent after COVID-19 vaccination than after infection, contrary to an op-ed in The Hill

CLAIM
“U.S. doctors found that ’long Covid’ developed in 70 percent of cases after vax injection, not after infection”

SOURCE: Pierre Kory, Paul Marik, The Hill, Disclose.tv

Published: 15 Mar 2024

VERDICT

Vaccines, treatments reduced public health threat posed by COVID-19, explaining different approach in 2024 compared to 2020

CLAIM
COVID-19 has been like the flu since the beginning of the pandemic

SOURCE: Instagram Users, Instagram

Published: 07 Mar 2024

VERDICT

The American Red Cross doesn’t prevent people vaccinated against COVID-19 from donating blood, contrary to rehashed viral claim

CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccine recipients might not be eligible for blood donation

SOURCE: Social media users, Instagram, Twitter

Published: 23 Feb 2024

VERDICT

Global COVID Vaccine Safety study identified already-known risks, doesn’t show that risks are greater than benefits

CLAIM
Global COVID Vaccine Safety study shows that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous, inadequately tested; getting vaccinated is more dangerous than getting COVID-19

SOURCE: Social media users, Instagram, Twitter

Published: 23 Feb 2024

VERDICT

Instagram reel promotes the baseless claim that viruses don’t exist, ignoring more than a century of science about infectious diseases

CLAIM
Viruses don’t exist, terrain theory explains why diseases occur

SOURCE: Matt Roeske, Cultivate Elevate

Published: 15 Feb 2024

VERDICT

Claim that myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccines carries serious risk of death is based on flawed study

CLAIM
Study shows myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccination carries serious risk of death

SOURCE: Joseph Mackinnon, The Blaze

Published: 08 Feb 2024

VERDICT

Incorrect claim that COVID-19 vaccines caused a 143,233% surge in cancer results from flawed calculations that misuse adverse event reporting data

CLAIM
“Official CDC data: 143,233% surge in fatal cancers among Vaxxed Americans”

SOURCE: Anonymous, The Exposé

Published: 01 Feb 2024

VERDICT

False-positive HIV tests don’t imply that a person is immunodeficient, contrary to claim by Peter McCullough

CLAIM
“The HIV test can turn positive after COVID-19 as well as the vaccine”; “maybe a form of immunodeficiency is there”

SOURCE: Peter McCullough, Rumble, Instagram

Published: 30 Jan 2024

VERDICT

Russell Brand’s YouTube videos use flawed analyses and simplistic correlations to link COVID-19 vaccines to heart issues, cancer, excess deaths

CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccines are associated with an increase in heart conditions, cancer

SOURCE: Russell Brand, YouTube

Published: 23 Jan 2024

VERDICT

INSIGHTS

How health problems after COVID-19 vaccination are sometimes used to feed misinformation narratives

— 28 Feb 2024

SUMMARY Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have acquired ample evidence showing that COVID-19 vaccines are safe. While COVID-19 vaccines are associate...

Authorization of bivalent COVID-19 boosters is based on scientific evidence of their safety and effectiveness

— 07 Nov 2022

image credit The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Publich Health SUMMARY In August 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized bivalent COVID-19 vaccine formulati...

What can explain the excess mortality in the U.S. and Europe in 2022?

— 02 Nov 2022

image source Introduction Every day, people die of many causes: diseases, accidents, violence, or simply old age. The number of deaths in any given country is usually stable from o...

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...