Fact Checking Claims on Vaccines, Election 2020, and January 6 From CPAC

Friday’s speakers made statements that have been repeatedly debunked.

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The agenda for the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference was diverse, with events like “Breaking China’s Power: No more ‘10% for the Big Guy’” to “Silly Doctor! Sex Changes Aren’t for Kids.” It was also full of misinformation. 

Some was subtle and amorphous, and some was blatant and specific, but the most noteworthy examples touched on three categories that The Dispatch Fact Check has been tracking for some time: vaccine misinformation, election misinformation, and the events of January 6. Here’s a roundup of some of the most significant claims that came out of the second day of the four-day event. 

In a panel titled “Fighters on the Front Line,” Leila Centner, chief executive officer and co-Founder of the Miami-based private school Centner Academy, spoke about her “common sense approach” to the pandemic. Centner made news last year for her controversial policy banning vaccinated teachers from coming into contact with students over concerns about viral shedding. On stage Friday, she spoke about the moment her teachers began getting the COVID vaccine. It was then, she said, that she took a stand. “I really don’t want teachers to get shot,” she said “because we don’t know of the possibility of the vaccinated impacting young unvaccinated kids.” Claims that the COVID-19 vaccines cause viral shedding are false. Shedding can occur only in vaccines that contain weakened versions of the targeted virus. The CDC includes this claim on its list of COVID vaccine myths and  The Dispatch Fact Check debunked these claims months ago.

Vincent Racaniello, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University explained to The Dispatch Fact Check that “With the mRNA vaccines there is no virus in the vaccine and therefore no shedding of virus from any site.” A spokesperson from the CDC also said: “There is no way for a COVID-19 vaccinated person to ‘shed vaccine.’ COVID-19 vaccines give instructions to teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. After the protein piece is made, the cell breaks down the instructions and gets rid of them. The immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies. COVID-19 vaccines do not use the live virus that causes COVID-19 and cannot cause COVID-19.”

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ Friday’s speakers made statements that have been repeatedly debunked.”

    At this point I can no longer be surprised by that.

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  2. Matt Mullen

    Right-wing media has poisoned the minds of tens of millions of Americans. They've brainwashed people into thinking that Democrats are "evil". Dennis Prager regularly says on his national radio show that "the left destroys everything it touches". It's now at the point where many of them support Putin more than Joe Biden. I thought it would be impossible to turn a decent man like Obama into a demon, but they did it. They did it with Hillary, and now they've done it with Biden. Right-wing media is nothing but a machine designed to sow hatred and anger over nothing at all. And they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their ends. They are ruining a once great country with their gratuitous hatred.

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  3. Nathaniel Monks

    There is an ideology behind the acceptance or rejecting or promoting of anything. There is an ideology in saying that trans is not ideology. One can fall on many places on the Spectrum of belief but it does no benefit to claim there is no Spectrum.

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  4. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    Corrupt
    Politicians
    Aiding
    Communists

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  5. Suzanne

    Anyone who assaults a police officer should be charged accordingly. Just curious, did the records say what the deadly or dangerous weapons were?

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  6. G Holcombe

    Interesting, thanks. No doubt some silly stuff going on there.

    But, just to be clear, fellas, the Biden DOJ is giving the Jan 6 rioters the same equal-handed treatment given to the thousands who burned and looted cities and assaulted others all over the country? That what you’re seeing?

    Also, looking forward to your fact checking on Dem claims that lockdowns and masks have been highly effective and that the CDC and Fauci has left a trail that shows he can be trusted.

    Thanks!

    GD Holcombe
    Pittsburgh

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    1. B Phillips

      Riots are NOT the same as an insurrection & should not be treated the same.

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      1. G Holcombe

        Oh, right. “Insurrections” are about unarmed idiots making fools of themselves on government property, and riots involve arson, weapons, assault, and massive property and small business destruction. Thanks for the clarification.

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    2. Laura Crowder

      I hope the DOJ sticks to its own lane and allows the appropriate states and counties to prosecute the criminal actions that took place in their jurisdiction.

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  7. Dan Bradley

    It must be very difficult for smart conservatives like all you at The Dispatch to have to sit quietly and listen to this tripe and then actually have to go to the trouble to fact check and try and bring the GOP back to normal land. Good luck. The rest of us need you to be successful.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Toni in Texas

    Regarding the fact check on vaccine issues. And then ivermectin..
    1.It is true that the vaccine does not cause viral shedding and the CDC person said vaccines do not cause ‘Vaccine Shedding’ …what does that mean?The remainder of the quote is incomprehensible to me.
    2.the vaccine does not protect from getting infected…it stops the infection via the immune response or lessens the severity of the infection .The individual’s immune response to the vaccine determines the efficacy in that particular individual..from no disease to mild,or moderate disease.
    3.Vaccinated (partial or fully) individuals can be asymptomatic and shed the virus,less so with the original and delta variant but also with omicron and perhaps more transmission because of the omicron’s nature.There is a UCLA study addressing this very issue.
    4. The CDC is at best unreliable and at worst deceitful.I have been trying very unsuccessfully to get updated info on vaccine side effects for both adults and more importantly the 5-11 year olds for almost 2 months.NOTHING available on their site.And recall the vaccine is still EUA for the younger age group.And to top it off this week the CDC says it has data but it would confuse the public what data.
    5.USA Today is not a well known or vetted medical site.
    6.The quotes presented as debunking speakers comments might be more believed presented in greater detail and context.for both speakers and fact staters.
    7.With all due respect to The Dispatch Fact Checkers ,I would be more circumspect about debunking Dr Ben .Carson’s comments.(Although he seldom mentions it,he is a retired pediatric neurosurgeon who performed the first successful separation of posterior cranial conjoined twinsIGranted he is not a virologist,but I do believe he is thoughtful in what he says.Regardless,A more definitive study will be coming out from Duke Medical School in conjunction with Vanderbilt University In the next few months regarding the role of ivermectin in the treatment of Covid.
    8.Regarding Hydroxychloroquine as treatment for Covid early on well before vaccines were available and when pulmonary inflammation was often the over riding issue ,I like many of my colleagues would have taken it in a heart beat for its anti-inflammatory properties and cellular level actions unappreciated by many but I digress.
    9.Been paying subscriber to the Dispatch for at least 18 months ..find it interesting.
    10.I am in age risk group,vaxed, and boosted ,participating in a university epidemiological study in my state.And not sure I would do another booster


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  9. Avatar photo
    Chris K

    I hope you fact checkers are earning overtime for your CPAC coverage.

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  10. DAVID E. NORBECK Jr MD

    Why is it that you feel we need you to fact check for us? And why should we trust your fact checking over our own reading and studying? Your info on ivermectin is far more confident than it should be. The studies I have read as a physician and the use of it for my patients has been remarkable and helpful.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Dona Dunsmore

      What does it do while treating parasites that makes it effective against COVID? I have read a lot but haven't seen that discussed.

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      Jacki F.

      Maybe you aren't even an MD. I actually am and I think your words are dangerous and you are dead WRONG. Anecdotal stories about your patients are BS, as any true scientist knows. And as far as "studies" you've read? Bring 'em on--plenty of MDs reading TMD can weigh in.

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    3. GregS

      If you're a subject matter expert you shouldn't blindly trust TDs fact checks on the subject of your expertise if they contradict your expertise.
      And if you have expertise on this topic, you can provide it to us in the comments.
      What specialty are you?

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    4. Avatar photo
      Man-Eating Cow

      It might be helpful for you to cite the studies you're using. As for your patients -- you are familiar with placebo effects and the reasons we run double-blind studies, right?

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