In a round of interviews before he stepped down as director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in December 2021, Francis Collins, MD, PhD, frequently discussed the problem of misinformation, which, many argue, became more rampant during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks in large part to social media. [JAMA Network]

Some have used the term “infodemic” to describe the glut of COVID-19 information—much of it false or misleading—on social media. During a disease outbreak, an infodemic “causes confusion and risk-taking behaviors that can harm health” and “leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response,” according to the World Health Organization.

When asked about the NIH’s role in pushing back against misinformation, Collins told Nature, “I wish we had more insights from behavioral social science research into how this has come to pass, and why it could have gotten so completely widespread.”

At the end of Collins’ tenure as NIH director, the agency planted the seed of a new program to support that very kind of research.

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