FactCheck.org’s SciCheck feature focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy. It was launched in January 2015 with a grant from the Stanton Foundation. The foundation was founded by the late Frank Stanton, president of CBS for 25 years, from 1946 to 1971.
Q: What are the risks of the newly identified coronavirus variants?
A: It’s not yet known whether mutant versions cause more severe disease, but some are likely more contagious. Scientists expect vaccines will work but are monitoring the situation.
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.
Three COVID-19 vaccines are now authorized in the U.S. In this story, we answer some common questions about the shots.
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.
A primer on the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive authorization and approval in the U.S.
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.
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.
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.
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.
President Trump said that once he came down with COVID-19, people for partisan reasons shifted from saying immunity was lifelong to saying it lasted only a few months. Experts haven’t changed their estimates.