RETRACTED: How a peer-reviewed study was killed by a “fact check”

When a medical journal starts outsourcing its editorial judgement to media fact-checkers, the entire premise of peer review collapses.

In April 2024, a peer-reviewed study by Japanese researchers was published in the medical journal Cureus. By June, it had been retracted.

The study, led by Dr Miki Gibo, a primary care physician at the Matsubara Clinic in Kochi, Japan, found that in 2022 there was a statistically significant rise in deaths from certain cancers coinciding with the rollout of Covid-19 mRNA injections.

Dr Miki Gibo, primary care physician at the Matsubara Clinic, Japan

Using official mortality statistics, the team found that four of six cancer types showed increases in age-adjusted death rates.

They made no claim of causation — only correlations — and outlined several possible explanations, including Covid-19 vaccination, lockdowns, and reduced cancer care.

The paper passed peer review and was accepted for publication. But instead of facing a scientific rebuttal, it was undone by something else entirely — a media “fact check.”