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SciCheck’s COVID-19/Vaccination Project
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Misconception: Vaccination

Partisans Seize on Edited Clip of CDC Director’s Comments on COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness

Partisans Seize on Edited Clip of CDC Director’s Comments on COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness
January 19, 2022

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discussed a recent study that found that on the rare occasion when fully vaccinated people died from COVID-19, they often had multiple risk factors for severe disease. But her reference to vaccinated people was cut in a version of the interview — and conservative figures misleadingly claimed she was talking about all COVID-19 deaths.

Death of Betty White Leads to Swirl of Falsehoods on Social Media

Death of Betty White Leads to Swirl of Falsehoods on Social Media
January 6, 2022

TV actress Betty White passed away at age 99 on Dec. 31. Following her passing, various falsehoods appeared on social media about White, including claims that she died after getting a COVID-19 booster shot and that she was the sister of former first lady Barbara Bush. White died of natural causes, according to her agent, and she had no siblings.

Viral Story Takes Fauci COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Comments Out of Context

Viral Story Takes Fauci COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Comments Out of Context
December 17, 2021

The COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. were found to be safe and effective in clinical trials and real-world conditions. Dr. Anthony Fauci did not admit that “Covid Vaccines May Actually Make People ‘Worse,'” as a viral headline misleadingly claims. Fauci’s March 2020 remarks about testing future vaccines were taken out of context.

Article Makes Unfounded Claims Linking Athletes’ Injuries, Deaths to Vaccines

Article Makes Unfounded Claims Linking Athletes’ Injuries, Deaths to Vaccines
December 17, 2021

Many U.S. athletes have been vaccinated against COVID-19 without any adverse effects. But a conservative outlet has cited a list of supposedly vaccine-injured athletes to claim “there may be something wrong with the vaccine.” There’s no proof that the listed athletes — most of them are actually retired — were harmed by the vaccines.

Doctor Makes False Claim About Stillbirths in Canadian Hospitals

Doctor Makes False Claim About Stillbirths in Canadian Hospitals
December 16, 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant people, and the World Health Organization says the vaccines are safe for them. Yet online articles cite a Canadian doctor who falsely claims that the vaccines have caused an unusually high number of stillbirths in Canadian hospitals. A hospital representative told us there was “no truth to this claim.”

Post Makes Unfounded Claims About Omicron ‘Symptoms’ and COVID-19 Vaccines

Post Makes Unfounded Claims About Omicron ‘Symptoms’ and COVID-19 Vaccines
December 7, 2021

Scientists are still learning about the omicron variant’s ability to spread or cause severe illness and the effectiveness of the current COVID-19 vaccines in fighting it. But a Facebook post misleadingly claims to list seven “symptoms” of the new variant, then suggests they are caused by the vaccines. The list actually refers to complications of COVID-19. Two of the listed conditions are rare adverse events associated with the vaccines.

Q&A on the Omicron Variant

Q&A on the Omicron Variant
December 3, 2021

On Nov. 24, South Africa told the World Health Organization that amid a recent increase in COVID-19 cases, it had identified a new variant — later named omicron — with a high number of mutations, raising concerns that it could spread more easily than other variants of the coronavirus. We’ll go through what we know so far about omicron.