Claim: Pfizer executive Janine Small confessed in a recent revelation that Pfizer was never tested for its impact on preventing disease transmission. Fact: Pfizer and German vaccine maker BioNTech published a study on the vaccine in 2020 for its approval from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which did not include any data on transmission impact […]
Claim: Bill Gates has called for the withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccines after admitting that the pandemic was “a farce”. Fact: Bill Gates did not call for a withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccines nor did he make the other statements attributed to him in the viral WhatsApp chain message. The message is false as it is based […]
Claim: Two mass Covid-19 vaccination centres in Karachi and Lahore are experiencing a shortage of the vaccine. Fact: The claim is half true, half false. Karachi’s Expo Centre has run out of stock of the CanSino Bio and Sinopharm vaccines. Only AstraZeneca and Sinovac are available, while Sinopharm is only available for those returning for […]
Claim: Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah has ordered the suspension of salaries for unvaccinated employees of the provincial government. Fact: Chief Minister Sindh’s official Twitter account confirms that this is true. On 3 June 2021, journalist Hasan Zaidi tweeted that Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah has ordered a suspension of salaries for Sindh […]
Claim: European countries stopped using the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after cases of blood clots were reported. Fact: Some European countries temporarily paused the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine. At least 18 of these countries have now removed the pause. Thromboembolic Events with Blood Clots During the first three weeks of March, countries across Europe temporarily paused […]
Claim: Pakistan is using a Chinese vaccine which was proven to have an efficacy of 50.4% during late-stage trials held in Brazil. Fact: Pakistan has currently approved Sinopharm Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine from China. The Sinovac vaccine that was tested in Brazil has not been approved in Pakistan. Pakistan is currently testing one other Chinese vaccine, […]
Claim: The Covid-19 vaccine negatively impacts male fertility. Fact: Any relationship between male fertility and the Covid-19 vaccine has not been scientifically proven. On 12 January, 2021 Zaid Hamid tweeted a screenshot of this article with the misleading headline “Study investigates effects of Covid-19 on male fertility,” implying the clinical trial has been completed and […]
Claim: Khadim Rizvi started breathing again after being declared dead and was brought back to the hospital. Fact: Khadim Rizvi passed away at Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore late evening on 19 November 2020. News broke around 9pm today that 54 year-old Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan Chief Khadim Rizvi passed away at Lahore’s Sheikh Zayed Hospital. Soon […]
Claim: A WhatsApp message being circulated claims that South City Hospital, Imtiaz Supermarket and Chase Up have all been shut due to Covid-19 outbreaks. The message also claims that 16 positive Covid-19 cases can be traced to Al Jadeed store. Fact: No recent Covid-19 outbreaks have been reported in any of the above mentioned places […]
Claim: Pakistan did not record the highest Covid-19 cases compared to the last 5 weeks. Fact: Pakistan did indeed report the highest Covid cases on 17 September compared to the last 5 weeks. On September 18, Omar R Quraishi, a prominent Pakistani journalist with a verified Twitter account, tweeted that Pakistan reported the highest number […]
Claim: Hotels in Naran, Kaghan and Shogran have been sealed shut due to the discovery of recent Covid-19 cases in the region. Fact: This claim is false, at least two hotels in Naran and one in Shogran are open and fully operational. Moreover, the managers of these hotels say that authorities never told them to […]
On 25 June, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made a speech in the National Assembly in which he addressed the Covid-19 situation in the country. In this speech, he lauded the efforts of the Sindh government in effectively handling the outbreak of the coronavirus, while criticizing the federal government’s response, calling their strategy ‘confused.’ During his speech, […]