NIH, the world’s largest biomedical research agency, was granted massive amounts of money to get to the bottom of long COVID symptoms that are devastating 1 in 13 Americans—but it fumbled its response.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- In February 2021, NIH announced that Congress would provide the agency $1.15 billion in funding over four years to study long COVID.
- An investigation by STAT and MuckRock, a nonprofit news outlet, revealed the NIH’s efforts to study long COVID have done little to benefit those struggling with the disorder and haven’t contributed meaningful information about the condition, either.
- As of April 2023, NIH has “basically nothing to show for” its research to date.
- Instead of conducting trials to pin down how to prevent and cure long COVID, NIH has spent most of its money simply watching, tracking, and recording long COVID symptoms.
- Gathering information about NIH’s long COVID data—and where the $1.15 billion in funding has gone—hasn’t proven easy; there is no single NIH official in charge of the efforts and the agency isn’t sharing even basic information about its research.
Joseph Mercola
Author
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder of Mercola.com. An osteopathic physician, best-selling author, and recipient of multiple awards in the field of natural health, his primary vision is to change the modern health paradigm by providing people with a valuable resource to help them take control of their health.
