A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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COVID vaccines lower hospitalizations across the board, not just in the U.S.

Claim: Vaccines reduce hospitalizations only in the U.S. but not in other countries.

The facts: COVID-19 vaccines, with or without a booster dose, have been shown to reduce rates of hospitalization in several countries.

Social media users are sharing video clips of a COVID-19 discussion panel held on Monday by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican representing Wisconsin, leading to the spread of false information about vaccines. Dr. Peter McCullough, a Dallas cardiologist and vaccine critic who spoke at the conference, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting academic fraud and that COVID-19 vaccines are not effective at preventing hospitalization from COVID-19.

McCullough also falsely claimed that the U.S. is the only country reporting a decline in hospitalizations from the vaccines while South Africa, the United Kingdom and Israel are not. Publicly available data contradicts McCullough’s claims.

Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that globally, people who are vaccinated have lower rates of hospitalization. When comparing vaccinated versus unvaccinated people, he...

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