News Roundup: ‘Prebunking’ Fake News and More

It’s roundup-style news this week, with lots of great stories to share. Away we go!

Finland Shows Us How to Counter Fake News

It’s not just the happiest country in the world: according to the latest analysis of media literacy across Europe, Finland was ranked number one for its efforts to help residents identify misinformation. This story from New Humanist reports on how the country accomplishes such an important feat. Some of its key tactics include government-sponsored resources such as a publicly available fact-checking service and nonprofit-led educational programs targeted at susceptible groups including the elderly and recent immigrants.

But the most meaningful tactic is surely Finland’s push to begin education about misinformation and its more sinister cousin, disinformation, with young children. In grade schools, students are taught about media and science literacy, statistical manipulation, and propaganda campaigns. The hope is that with early intervention, kids will grow up to be critical thinkers who approach any information source with an appropriate level of skepticism.

My favorite part of the article comes in a quote from Cambridge University professor Sander van der Linden, who says that debunking isn’t enough — that societies should invest in “prebunking,” or getting ahead of misinformation so people don’t fall for it in the first place.

Here in the U.S., as longstanding vaccine policies are overturned at alarming rates based on commonly held myths and misconceptions, I believe we could all use more debunking and prebunking in our lives. It’s great to see Finland leading the way in showing us how it can be done.

Covid Vaccination Protects Better than Natural Infection Response

While we’re talking about vaccines, a newly published study from scientists in Hong Kong provides strong evidence demonstrating that vaccine-induced protection against Covid actually outperforms infection-induced immunity. This wasn’t some statistical fluke, either: the study covered more than 1.7 million adults during a three-month respiratory season in the winter of 2022-2023.

Scientists analyzed two variables with this data. First, they compared performance of a traditional-model Covid vaccine to one of the mRNA Covid vaccines, finding that people got far more protection from the mRNA vaccine. Second, they looked at how people fared when they were naturally infected first versus vaccinated first (in both cases comparing how those people responded to subsequent Covid infections). It wasn’t even close; vaccination provided substantially higher protection against Covid than the immunity garnered from a natural infection.

The researchers conclude that their work could guide public health response whenever the next Covid-type pandemic emerges. “These findings support proactive vaccination policies over reliance on infection-acquired immunity and inform rapid response strategies for future pandemic threats,” they report.

Antivirals and the Goldilocks Effect

A recent report from scientists at the University of Washington caught my eye: in a series of experiments, they determined that antiviral therapies that are too strong can actually reduce effectiveness by spurring drug resistance. It turns out that slightly weaker therapies help prevent the development of such resistance, while more potent drugs can inadvertently wipe out enough of the susceptible viruses and leave too many resistant viruses in their wake. Of course, making these therapies too weak would eliminate their ability to treat sick patients. So pharmaceutical scientists are left with a real balancing act, having to make these critical medicines juuuuuust right.