Moderna’s mRNA vaccine is the second COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized and fully approved for use in the U.S. Here, we give a rundown of basic facts about the vaccine and an overview of how it works.
A Guide to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Issues: COVID-19
The Whoppers of 2020
Our list of the 10 most egregious falsehoods of the year.
Instagram Post Distorts Facts on COVID-19 Death Reporting
An Instagram post falsely claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting all pneumonia and influenza deaths as caused by COVID-19. That’s wrong and is based on a misreading of one type of monitoring the agency conducts.
Vaccine Recipient Targeted With Baseless ‘Crisis Actor’ Claim
Social media posts are peddling the baseless claim that the first recipient of a COVID-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom was actually a “crisis actor.” There is no evidence for that conspiracy theory.
A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine
A primer on the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive authorization and approval in the U.S.
Primer on Trump’s Visit to Georgia
In advance of President Donald Trump’s visit to Georgia, we recap our fact-checking reports on the Georgia Senate races and Trump’s false, misleading and unfounded statements about alleged election fraud in that state.
Flawed Analysis Leads to False Claim of ‘No Excess Deaths’ in 2020
An economics professor’s flawed interpretation of U.S. mortality data has prompted a viral, false claim that COVID-19 hasn’t led to more deaths than normal this year. In fact, multiple analyses have found there to be a higher-than-normal number of deaths during the pandemic — as much as 20%, according to some studies.
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.
Meme Distorts Facts on Annual Death Statistics
An image circulating on social media erroneously claims that the total number of deaths in the U.S. this year is significantly down compared to previous years. The meme — which implies COVID-19 restrictions weren’t needed — actually uses an incomplete figure for 2020 and makes a flawed comparison.
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.