A primer on the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive authorization and approval in the U.S.
A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Stories by Jessica McDonald
SciCheck Editor
Trump Repeats Baseless, False Claims About the Election
In his first interview since Election Day, President Donald Trump recapped baseless, false and misleading claims he has made before of a “rigged” election.
Danish Study Doesn’t Prove Masks Don’t Work Against the Coronavirus
Q: Did a recent study in Denmark show that face masks are useless for COVID-19?
A: No. The study found that face masks did not have a large protective effect for wearers — not that masks provide no protection at all or don’t offer benefits to others.
The Facts on Trump’s Post-Election Legal Challenges
For this story, we ignore the tweets and press conferences and look at what the president’s lawyers have been saying in court. Two things stick out: a lack of evidence of voter fraud and a long string of legal defeats and setbacks.
Paul Misleads on Natural Infection and COVID-19 Vaccines
In a tweet, Sen. Rand Paul misleadingly suggested that immunity from “[n]aturally acquired” COVID-19 was better than that from a vaccine. But it’s not known how immunity from the two sources compares — and the entire point of a vaccine is to offer immunity without the risk of getting sick.
Trump Baselessly Alleges COVID-19 Vaccine Announcement Was Delayed
In a series of tweets, President Donald Trump claimed — without evidence — that the pharma company Pfizer and his own FDA purposely held off on releasing positive interim results about a COVID-19 vaccine candidate until after the election.
Trump’s Wild, Baseless Claims of Illegal Voting
In remarks resembling an attack on democratic elections, rather than a presidential speech, President Donald Trump doubled down on his campaign pledge: “The only way we can lose, in my opinion, is massive fraud.”
Pennsylvania TV Newscast Graphic Wasn’t Evidence of Voter Fraud
An inaccurate graphic on a local TV station briefly showed one Pennsylvania county with more mail-in votes than the number of ballots it had received. The graphic was quickly corrected, but Facebook users are now sharing screenshots of it to misleadingly suggest it is evidence of voter fraud.
Closing Arguments of the Presidential Campaign
We fact-check claims the candidates made in rallies and TV ads in the days before Election Day.
Trump Spins ER Statistic to Claim U.S. Is in ‘Great Shape’ on COVID-19
President Trump has made the misleading boast that the U.S. is in “great shape” because 97% of emergency room visits were for something other than COVID-19. Trump could have boasted of similar percentages — 93% to 96% — during the worst periods of the pandemic.