What We’re Reading: COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter; Public Health Improvement Grant; Alzheimer Drug Shows Promise

Twitter Stops Enforcing COVID-19 Misinformation Policy

As of November 23, Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy, which has led to more than 11,000 account suspensions and nearly 100,000 pieces of content removed since 2020, Politico reported. Twitter's owner Elon Musk did not formally announce the change, although some users noticed a single sentence added to Twitter’s online rules, saying, “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.” This moderation policy update now allows users to spread false information on the virus and vaccines, and experts are worried about the harmful effects this will have on COVID-19 cases and deaths.

CDC Awards More Than $3 Billion to Improve Public Health Infrastructure

The CDC is awarding more than $3 billion to help strengthen the United States' public health infrastructure and workforce, Reuters reported. The funding includes $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan to cover state, local, and territorial health departments across the country. It also includes $140 million from a new appropriation to those jurisdictions and $65 million to 3 public health entities to provide training and technical assistance.

Alzheimer Drug Shows Modest Success, but Linked to AEs, Deaths

Experimental drug lecanemab appears to slow the spread of Alzheimer disease by removing amyloid from the brain, NPR reported. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed the drug reduced the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in nearly 1800 participants in early stages of Alzheimer disease. In a scale ranging 0-18, participants who received lecanemab infusions scored about half a point better in mental functioning, reflecting a slight but statistically significant difference. However, about 1 in 5 participants who received the treatment experienced an adverse event, including swelling or bleeding in the brain. Some participants also reported headaches, visual disturbances, confusion, and other symptoms, and the drug was linked to 2 deaths.