COVID-19 Watch

A Filipina vlogger is falsely claiming that the World Health Organization (WHO) admitted in its website that COVID-19 vaccines can cause multiple sclerosis (MS). The WHO itself has debunked this allegation. “It is in the WHO website na may pag-aaral na… ang tuklaw nagca-cause ng… ang vetsin nagca-cause ng sclerosis (The WHO’s website posted a […]

While Marcos did not extend the state of calamity which ended in 2022, he has yet to lift the state of public health emergency which remains in effect.

A Facebook (FB) Reel currently circulating among thousands of netizens falsely implies that Metro Manila has been placed under a heightened alert level to combat COVID-19 transmission. The misleading Reel used an old news report. On May 2, an FB user reposted a short video originally published by TikTok user @niwrenewstv. It was captioned “#alertlevel3” […]

Getting updated vaccination “remains to be the most effective and best long-term protection” against the COVID-19 virus, according to the Department of Health, even as a new subvariant of Omicron was detected in the country earlier this month. What is the Arcturus subvariant? Should it be a cause for concern?

A widely-circulated web article about a Philippine court ordering the arrest of American business magnate Bill Gates is fake. Below, VERA Files Fact Check debunks two claims in a March 2 “fact-checked” article by News Punch, an alternative American news publication.   Claim Rating A Philippine court issued an international arrest warrant for Bill Gates, as […]

A vlogger known for spreading COVID-19 disinformation took out-of-context the Pfizer CEO’s recent statement. She used his remarks to falsely insinuate that two major vaccine manufacturers are creating conditions that will lead to more severe disease and hospitalizations and that their vaccines will be sold as “cure.” “They have a proposal: [Pfizer and Moderna] will […]

With the rise of COVID-19 cases overseas, a text post is spreading among Filipinos on social media and private messaging platforms claiming the new COVID-19 subvariant XBB.1.5 is more lethal than the Delta variant. This is not true. The text, which started to circulate after New Year’s day, cited as its source an unspecified “Singaporean […]

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., head of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, claimed that the government had achieved its goal of fully vaccinating 70 million Filipinos against the coronavirus disease before the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term on June 30. This claim needs context.

Netizens on Facebook (FB) and Twitter have falsely claimed that the Department of Health (DOH) will artificially increase the number of COVID-19 cases in the country two days before the May 9 elections. The baseless claims, which started circulating on April 28 and continued to be shared a few days before the polls get underway, […]

Early in the pages of Dr. Joseph Adrian L. Buensalido’s Mikrobyong Maliit, Pandemyang Pasakit: Ang Tinulang Salaysay ng Pandemyang COVID-19, there is a certificate attesting that the holder or owner of the slim volume of 72 pages has lived and survived during the time of the pandemic. In Filipino it states that “I am happy I went past this grim…

Presidential candidate Jose “Joey” Montemayor’s claim that the COVID-19 vaccine has a “reverse” effect and exposes people to infection has no basis.

Medical experts on Thursday said the Philippines has grown into a prime hub for health mis- and disinformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.