Federally Funded Research Involving Dogs 

Americans love their pets. So, it was no surprise that Twitter blew up when images started to circulate showing sedated beagles whose heads were stuck in mesh cages filled with diseased sand flies. 

Our inbox blew up, too, as our readers asked whether Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was responsible for funding this particular research project. 

"What’s the real story on Fauci’s involvement in using beagle puppies for medical experiments?" one reader asked. 

Staff writer D'Angelo Gore answers that complicated question in our most recent Ask FactCheck.

The photos of the beagles with their heads locked in mesh cages were pulled from a paper about a study in Tunisia that investigated whether the flies were more attracted to dogs with or without leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease found in the tropics, subtropics and southern Europe. 

The journal that published that Tunisia study mistakenly said that the research was funded in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It issued a correction on Oct. 26. 

But, as our story explains, the NIAID, which is part of the NIH, did fund other research on beagles, including another study in Tunisia. (Yes, it is complicated.)

The NIH says it uses animals in research, in part, because it allows scientists to “identify new ways to treat illnesses, extend life, and improve health and well-being.” 

The American Diabetes Association notes that German research on dogs in the late 19th century eventually resulted in the discovery of insulin, for example.

For more, see "Answering Questions About #BeagleGate."

Reader: If Covid vaccinated people can get sick and transmit the virus to others, how do they differ from an unvaccinated individual transmitting the virus to others?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We addressed this issue a few times, most recently when basketball star Bradley Beal posed this question to the media: “So is everybody in here vaxxed? ... So, you all can still get COVID, right? OK, but you can still get COVID. Right. OK, and you can still pass it along even with the vax, right? I’m just asking a question.” 

We wrote: 

"Beal is correct that vaccinated people can still transmit the disease to someone else, perhaps particularly since the emergence of the delta variant. The CDC has cited data that indicated with delta, infected vaccinated individuals have similar viral loads to those who are unvaccinated. However, several experts told us that doesn’t mean vaccinated individuals are equally likely to spread the virus, for several reasons. For one, vaccinated people likely aren’t infected as long as unvaccinated people, since their immune systems are quicker to respond to the virus.

"The CDC has said 'studies suggest that vaccinated people who become infected with Delta have potential to be less infectious than infected unvaccinated people' and that more data are needed."

For more, see "Basketball Star Bradley Beal’s Misleading Comments About COVID-19." 

We addressed this topic in more depth in "Posts Misinterpret CDC's Provincetown COVID-19 Outbreak Report." In that story, Science Editor Jessica McDonald spoke to several experts who told us the evidence suggests that vaccinated people who get infected with SARS-CoV-2 are less likely to spread the virus.  

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "How Many Died as a Result of Capitol Riot?": Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol resulted in “almost 10 dead.” Four people died that day, and five others — all law enforcement officers — died days, weeks and even months later. In this story, we lay out what is publicly known about the circumstances surrounding those deaths. 
• "Why It’s Easy to Misinterpret Numbers of Deaths Among the Vaccinated": Raw numbers of hospitalizations or deaths among those who are vaccinated are not a good indicator of whether vaccines are effective. If the large majority of a population is vaccinated, it’s not surprising if most deaths are among the vaccinated. But social media posts misuse data from the U.K. to suggest the COVID-19 vaccines don’t work.
• "Biden Botches Virginia Election History": Seeking to deflect the significance of Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s loss in the Virginia governor’s race to Republican Glenn Youngkin, President Joe Biden wrongly claimed that “no governor in Virginia has ever won when … he or she is the same party as the sitting president.” 
• "Japan Continues to Use Vaccines, Not Ivermectin, to Fight COVID-19": More than 70% of Japan’s population has received the COVID-19 vaccines, and the government is moving ahead with a booster shot in December. But a conservative radio host in the U.S. falsely claimed, “Japan drops vax rollout, goes to Ivermectin.” Japan hasn’t stopped its vaccine program and hasn’t approved ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.
• "Bogus Campaign Signs in Virginia Were Not Posted by McAuliffe or Democrats": The role of parents in deciding school curriculum is a flash point in the Virginia gubernatorial race. Days before the election, bogus signs have appeared on streets and in social media posts reading, “Keep Parents Out of Classrooms,” and imply they were placed by Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe. But McAuliffe and the local Democrats said, “these signs are not ours.”

• "Personal y trabajadores médicos temporales de FEMA deben acatar mandatos de vacunación": La Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias está enviando trabajadores médicos con contrato temporal a hospitales con escasez de personal, donde deben cumplir con los mandatos de vacunación contra el COVID-19. Pero mensajes en las redes sociales afirman falsamente que “doctores y enfermeros se ven obligados a renunciar debido a los mandatos” mientras que los trabajadores enviados por FEMA están “exentos”.
• "Colin Powell falleció de COVID-19 tras ser diagnosticado y tratado de cáncer": El exsecretario de Estado de Estados Unidos Colin Powell murió debido a complicaciones del COVID-19. Aunque estaba completamente vacunado, también tenía 84 años y era paciente de cáncer, habiéndose sometido a un tratamiento de mieloma múltiple; ambos factores aumentaron su riesgo de desarrollar una infección grave a pesar de estar vacunado. Su muerte no significa que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 no funcionen, como sugieren muchas publicaciones en las redes sociales.
• "¿Ya tuvo COVID-19? La vacunas refuerzan la inmunidad, no eliminan anticuerpos": Las investigaciones muestran que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 refuerzan los niveles de anticuerpos y mejoran la respuesta inmunitaria en aquellos que ya han tenido COVID-19. Las vacunas no eliminan los anticuerpos que una persona que se ha recuperado de la enfermedad desarrolla, como publicaciones en redes sociales vienen diciendo incorrectamente durante meses. 
• "Trump y su hijo distorsionan grado de aceptación de la vacuna antes de Biden": El expresidente Donald Trump y su hijo Eric difundieron una versión distorsionada de la historia al afirmar que la reticencia hacia la vacuna aumentó cuando Biden asumió el poder y que “la gente estaba vacunándose en cantidades récord” hasta que Biden impuso los mandatos de vacunación.