Last week, several viral social media posts claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci created the virus that causes COVID-19 in his Montana lab and released the virus in order to sway election results. Recommendation: It’s unlikely for this specific conspiracy theory to come up in patient conversations, but patient messaging...
Georgia health officials confirmed a third measles case in the state. The person who contracted measles was unvaccinated and traveled internationally with a group of students. In response to this event, social media users are sharing a variety of false claims. Some are blaming immigrants for the recent rise in...
A former cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs died from sepsis after giving birth to a stillborn baby. Social media users are making the unsubstantiated claim that her death was caused by COVID-19 vaccination. Some are also using the former cheerleader’s death to support the false claims that miscarriage...
Last week, a group called Innovative Parenting New Jersey hosted a livestream event on social media to discuss proposed health code changes at New Jersey schools. A post advertising the event claimed that “medical consent is being attacked.” Some commenters on the post claimed that proposed health codes are solely...
A new CDC study investigates the risk of sudden cardiac deaths in teens and young adults who received COVID-19 vaccines. The study found no link between the vaccines and sudden cardiac deaths. Vaccine opponents responded to scientific data that contradicts the false claims they have circulated for the last two...
Several prominent vaccine opponents posted false claims about bird flu online, in both English and Spanish. Some of the false claims include that there’s been a possible “artificial introduction of H5N1 bird flu into farming operations and food.” Other claims resurfaced conspiracy theories about a “plandemic,” casting suspicion on...
Vaccine opponents, posting in both English and Spanish, are sharing images of a Japan protest against the World Health Organization’s pandemic treaty, resurfacing conspiracy theories about the pandemic and falsely claiming that the treaty means that countries will lose sovereignty and freedom. Recommendation: False claims about the World Health...
This week Arizona's Supreme Court voted to uphold a law from 1864 that bans all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest, unless the pregnant person’s life is threatened. The ruling makes abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who...
This week two viral social media posts claimed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a widely used type of antidepressant, lead to violent behavior. One post included a video of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. attributing mass shootings to SSRI prescriptions and video games. Another suggested that taking SSRIs contributed to...
A new Florida law will make it a felony to expose first responders to fentanyl or other chemically similar drugs when the exposure results in physical harm. Experts from American College of Medical Toxicology and American Academy of Clinical Toxicology said this law will create an “unnecessary concern,” as the...
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