Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.
Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is not effective in older adults.
False
Claim that four African leaders who died in recent months were killed for opposing COVID-19 vaccinations for their citizens.
False
A report on the origins of COVID-19 by a U.S. government national laboratory concluded that the hypothesis of a virus leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday, citing people familiar with the classified document.
-- Reuters, June 7
The Covid-19 pathogen has a genetic footprint that has never been observed in a natural coronavirus.
-- Wall Street Journal (via BizNews), June 6
Donald Trump and his Republican allies have spent the last few weeks trying to rewrite or distort the history of the pandemic, attempting with renewed vigor to villainize Anthony S. Fauci while lionizing the former president for what they portray as heroic foresight and underappreciated efforts to combat the deadly virus.
-- Washington Post, June 5
Throughout 2020, the notion that the novel coronavirus leaked from a lab was off-limits. Those who dared to push for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark.
-- Vanity Fair, June 3
The silencing of scientists, the blanket denials, the careful guarding of raw data and biological samples — these elements have been emblematic of the approach by Chinese authorities at every stage of the coronavirus outbreak. And they continue to obstruct the world’s ability to get answers.
-- Washington Post, June 3
Some experts fear we’re in for a nasty cold-and-flu season or two, pointing to a combination of factors that could make for a rough re-entry to the mixed microbes world.
-- Stat, May 27
People who have had mild illness develop antibody-producing cells that can last lifetime.
-- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, May 24
Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the COVID-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory.
-- Wall Street Journal (via MarketWatch), May 23
India’s COVID-19 surge has become a tsunami, with hospitals overwhelmed and funeral pyres burning throughout the nights. Yet the country’s vaccination campaign is languishing, with less than 3% of Indians fully vaccinated as of 16 May.
-- Science, May 19
As scientists with relevant expertise, we agree with the WHO director-general, the United States and 13 other countries, and the European Union that greater clarity about the origins of this pandemic is necessary and feasible to achieve.
-- Science, May 14
Neither the natural emergence nor the lab escape hypothesis can yet be ruled out. There is still no direct evidence for either. So no definitive conclusion can be reached. That said, the available evidence leans more strongly in one direction than the other.
-- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 5