Accessibility links

Breaking News

Coronavirus: The Infodemic - June 14


FILE PHOTO: Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021
FILE PHOTO: Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021

Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.

Daily Debunk

Claim: “920 Women Lose Their Unborn Babies After Getting Vaccinated.”

Verdict: Misleading

Read the full story at: FactCheck.org

Social Media Disinfo

Screenshot
Screenshot

Circulating on social media: Claim that electronic devices "recognize" people who have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, and that anyone who receives the vaccine will become "magnetic," will have their DNA altered and will die from blood clots.

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: Agence France-Presse

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

WHO Chief Urges China to Cooperate With Probe Into Covid-19 Origins
Group of Seven leaders conferring at summit in England discussed causes of the global pandemic.
-- Wall Street Journal (via Mint), June 12

Why India’s Second COVID Surge Is So Much Worse Than the First
Large gatherings and much more lenient restrictions have allowed the virus to spread at devastating levels.
-- Scientific American, June 9

U.S. report concluded COVID-19 may have leaked from Wuhan lab - WSJ
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 Science Suggests a Wuhan Lab Leak
The Covid-19 pathogen has a genetic footprint that has never been observed in a natural coronavirus.
-- Wall Street Journal (via BizNews), June 6

We may never know where the virus came from. But evidence still suggests nature.
Labs like the one in Wuhan are essential to preparing for future pandemics.
-- Washington Post, June 4

The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins
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

A scientist adventurer and China’s ‘Bat Woman’ are under scrutiny as coronavirus lab-leak theory gets another look
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

Good news: Mild COVID-19 induces lasting antibody protection
People who have had mild illness develop antibody-producing cells that can last lifetime.
-- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, May 24

New report of illnesses at Wuhan lab raises questions about origins of COVID-19
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

Investigate the origins of COVID-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

The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan?
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

The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections

HealthCheck

COVID19 Infodemics Observatory

Agence France Presse

Snopes

BuzzFeed

Factcheck.org

Associated Press

Washington Post

TruthOrFiction

Mapping COVID-19 Casualties

Reliable Coronavirus Information

World Health Organization

U.S. Centers for Disease Control

Federation of American Scientists

Emergency Physicians

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine​

Pan American Health Organization

Google COVID‑19 Information & Resources

XS
SM
MD
LG