Claim reviews
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
Viral photo of a helicopter de-icing a wind turbine is from Sweden, not Texas; current power outages in Texas are due to multiple fuel types going offline
CLAIM
Helicopters are using chemicals made from fossil fuels to defrost wind turbines; frosted wind turbines are responsible for blackouts in Texas; “the reason your power is/was out is wind energy's fault.”
SOURCE: Facebook users, 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
NOAA shows clear global warming trends over the past 58 years based on radiosonde data
CLAIM
“The 58 year net gain of global temperature is zero. We are simply in a cyclical, normal ebb and flow of temperature.”
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 05 Feb 2021
VERDICT
The lethality of COVID-19 is much higher than the flu; the Biden press corps didn’t say COVID-19 was a hoax
CLAIM
the “case fatality rate of COVID-19 is 0.1% to 0.3% which is the same exact case fatality rate as the regular seasonal flu”; “Biden’s press corps admits” COVID-19 was “a hoax”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Bitchute
Published: 04 Feb 2021
VERDICT
Vaccines are useful even when there is a treatment for a disease, contrary to claim by Lee Merritt in The New American video
CLAIM
“We have vaccines because we didn't have treatment for smallpox and it was a very deadly disease that made sense to have a vaccine. [...] but [COVID-19]? Even without doing anything, this disease has a 99.991[%] chance of survival.”
SOURCE: Lee Merritt, The New American
Published: 04 Feb 2021
VERDICT
The American Journal of Medicine didn’t recommend hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19; scientific evidence doesn’t show hydroxychloroquine is effective against COVID-19
CLAIM
The “American Journal of Medicine admit their stand on [hydroxychloroquine] was wrong“; it “published evidence that hydroxychloroquine is effective for preventing COVID-19“
SOURCE: Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit
Published: 03 Feb 2021
VERDICT