This was a large program that funded general research into antiviral drugs- again, in preparation for next time.
Going on the experience of the last couple of weeks, and what we have seen in terms of grant and program terminations, I would not be surprised if they did a big grep for the substring "COVID" and used that as their starting point for finding things to cut, without actually paying attention to what the grants were really studying.
The other aspect we need to research new pandemics is a model virus organism, antivirals alone are insufficient. For example, if we're worried some bug is surely on the verge of jumping from say, a horse with equine encephalitis virus, to human, it would be important to develop a model of the virus, under highly precautious and sterile conditions of course, whereby our modified model virus would become proficient at infecting human cells and thusly our antivirals may be researched easily. After all, to cure our hypothetical pandemic disease it's important to have a disease to cure in the first place.
What does this even mean? I guess it does't include Long COVID and what it does to a body after the immediate virus is treated.
With our luck, I guess red states are going to hit a small measles epidemic, so best of luck to those people.
It doesn't include things like making necessary medications affordable, or food programs, since those are items being cut.
We need to make sure the medical industry can't run like a back alley mafia loan shark before giving the crooks more money.
source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R2DKolx_zFI?feature=share
So while death rates are in the hundreds a week which is a lot less than when the pandemic started the chronic disease aspect is continuing.
The pandemic is not over, the WHO says it's still going and is a mass disabling event. We really need that Long Covid and sterilising vaccine research and quickly.
5 years on and I've still managed to avoid being infected with sars-cov-2. I was going to continue the extremely burdensome mitigation behaviors till there was an intranasal available... but with how things are in the USA now it seems like this will never happen. I'm just going to have to roll the dice on my car-accident-equivalent sars-cov-2 first infection now, before I get any older, and hope I only come out with minor injuries to my mucosal tissues. My humoral tissues / organs should be fine thanks to the intramuscular vaccinations.
I remember folks making their own intranasal vaccines with research peptides. What is your analysis of that?
Even if an injectable vaccine is able to prevent severe disease from those kinds of viruses, it is not completely "sterilizing" as the virus will still replicate on those mucosas and will be able to be spread even if in a less virulent fashion. Intranasal vaccines have the potential to stop those viruses before they have a chance to take hold.
>folks making their own intranasal vaccines with research peptides
I wish the RaDVaC were still available, but around the time of sars-cov-2 delta(?) they were no longer able manufacture the proteins needed for their intranasal protein vaccination (they tried but they could not produce it; a common problem with full protein vaccines). It hasn't been an option for quite a while.
The only real option would be a medical tourism trip to India to get their iNCOVACC intranasal sars-cov-2 vaccine but I do not think I have the money or ability to successfully navigate a foreign medical system.
We're finally pulling the copper from the walls.
I don't think we're imminently about to fall to fascism but I see the UK about 50 paces down the path from us wrt gutting public services and investment in any kind of future that operates better than today.
Our country voted for this, eyes wide open. This ain't a fluke.
By now, most people either were infected at least once or got one of the vaccines.
Seasonal variants will occur every year, just like with the flu, people will get sick, but in the vast majority of cases, no internation will be needed unless in the cases of people with comorbidities and other vulnerabilities that make most common respiratory infections potentially challenging for them. It sucks, but it is life.
Medical research investments as with everything else in health need to take into account the cost-benefit ratio of every decision. Spending lots of money on SARS-COV-2 probably in lieu of other more urgent issues probably doesn't make much sense now.
People need to emotionally detach themselves from COVID. The adventure is over.
An ironic comment. Do you think there is no value in studying this particular virus to better understand future pandemic possibilities? What are “more urgent issues”? Do you think no one studies the flu, in order to create the seasonal shots (which provably and significantly decrease mortality)?
This isn’t a bunch of doomers on Reddit who think everyone should wear masks forever, so I’m curious why you had such a strong response. Are you that familiar with epidemiology?
I will say again for clarity:
1) Covid is no longer a top priority, some re-allocation of research moneys is normal and to be expected.
2) I expect some level of investment to continue, but I consider reasonable to suppose that given the circumstances the current level may not be justifiable anymore and requires some down ramping.
Of course, it may be the case that those cuts are going to affect you personally, which would explain why you considered my rather bland comment as a "strong response".
And in the remote case that this is the concrete situation, I apologize for my insensitivity.
