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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Trump Executive Order Targets COVID-19 Vaccines No Longer Required for Most U.S. Students

Trump Executive Order Targets COVID-19 Vaccines No Longer Required for Most U.S. Students

President Donald Trump this month issued an executive order prohibiting discretionary federal funds from going to schools and colleges or universities that require students to get a COVID-19 vaccine. But there currently are no states that require the vaccines for students, and only a few colleges or universities continue to have such a mandate.

Our Most Popular Articles in 2024

Our Most Popular Articles in 2024

We wrote about a lot of misinformation in 2024, and, as usual, some fact-checking articles piqued our readers’ interest more than others. In this post, we present the 10 most popular stories published on our website this past year.

Flawed Autopsy ‘Review’ Revives Unsupported Claims of COVID-19 Vaccine Harm, Censorship

Flawed Autopsy ‘Review’ Revives Unsupported Claims of COVID-19 Vaccine Harm, Censorship

COVID-19 vaccination is generally very safe, and except for extremely rare cases, there is no evidence that it contributes to death. Social media posts about a now-published, but faulty review of autopsy reports, however, are repeating an unfounded claim from last summer that “74% of sudden deaths are shown to be due to the COVID-19 vaccine.”

FactChecking RFK Jr.’s Rival Debate

FactChecking RFK Jr.’s Rival Debate

Excluded from the CNN presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on June 27, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. livestreamed a parallel debate on social media, answering the same questions put to the major party candidates.

Posts Misrepresent Ruling on COVID-19 School Mandate Lawsuit

Posts Misrepresent Ruling on COVID-19 School Mandate Lawsuit

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District for its now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine requirement. The court said the case should be allowed to develop beyond the preliminary arguments. But anti-vaccination activists have twisted the opinion to falsely claim the court had “declared that the mRNA covid jab is NOT a vaccine.”

FactChecking Biden on Inflation, Other Claims

FactChecking Biden on Inflation, Other Claims

When President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the U.S. annual rate of inflation was 1.4% — far from the 9% inflation Biden falsely said in a May 8 interview that he inherited. Inflation rose quickly in Biden’s first year, but it didn’t hit 9% until 17 months into his presidency.

O.J. Simpson Died from Cancer, Not COVID-19 Vaccine

O.J. Simpson Died from Cancer, Not COVID-19 Vaccine

O.J. Simpson, a football star who was acquitted in the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, died of cancer on April 10 at age 76. Misinformation spread online within hours of the news. Social media posts falsely claimed that the cancer was related to his COVID-19 vaccination. Simpson was vaccinated, but there is no evidence that vaccination causes cancer or that it was to blame for his death.