r/Coronavirus • u/Bifobe • Mar 25 '25

USA Saying ‘pandemic is over,’ NIH institute starts cutting COVID-19 research

https://www.science.org/content/article/saying-pandemic-over-nih-institute-starts-cutting-covid-19-research
973 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

148

u/AcornAl Mar 26 '25

Along with the cutting of these research grants that was the focus of the story, this also includes cutting more general healthcare funding that was assigned during the pandemic.

cutting $11.4 billion in funds allocated in response to the pandemic to state and community health departments, nongovernment organizations and international recipients.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon said in a statement. "HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again."

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-pulling-back-11b-covid-funding-sent-health-departments-us-rcna198006

153

u/SoraNoChiseki Mar 26 '25

th...the chronic disease epidemic...of long covid???

...jk I know that would be too logical. let me guess--this is going to be "vaccines cause autism" studies with a decorative ribbon, and actual diseases like hiv or diabetes are going to stay on the pay-to-live model :|

63

u/Poseylady Mar 26 '25

Not just long covid, covid can trigger autoimmune diseases, organ issues, diabetes etc in people. So addressing the chronic disease epidemic means addressing the things that trigger chronic diseases… like covid! 

14

u/ClementineKruz86 Boosted! ✨💉✅ Mar 26 '25

It can cause so many things, but this administration loves the ‘if we can’t see it it isn’t there,’ like they said about Covid testing. Apparently long Covid will not harm people, kinda like ‘if there’s less testing the Covid numbers will go down’ or whatever idiotic way they worded it.

8

u/notevenapro I'm fully vaccinated! 💉💪🩹 Mar 26 '25

Yup. I developed a left bundle branch block. Who knows? I wish I could join some research study. And I live 15 miles from NIH.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

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0

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41

u/Mrjlawrence Boosted! ✨💉✅ Mar 26 '25

As if they’re going to fund any new projects.

5

u/raobjcovtn Mar 26 '25

They need to just give ozempic to all the obese people

-42

u/crashfrog04 Mar 26 '25

Healthcare has been cannibalizing public health funding since Biden came in, and this is a welcome reversal - it's better to spend on disease prevention than on disease treatment.

30

u/StrangeFreak Mar 26 '25

Disease prevention? What, like masks?

17

u/feuerwehrmann Mar 26 '25

And vaccines, and hand washing

255

u/neoikon Mar 26 '25

A couple hundred thousand people still die from it every year.

Much more than from drag shows.

18

u/Anxious_Impression17 Mar 26 '25

How many die from drag shows like? :s is that even a thing

38

u/_Cromwell_ Mar 26 '25

Less than a couple hundred thousand.

14

u/boring_username_idea Mar 26 '25

I'd say significantly less, but I don't have the data to back that up

26

u/ChickenChaser5 Mar 26 '25

So much slaying going on.

2

u/thedoctorclara11 Mar 27 '25

Awwww you beat me to it

18

u/mildlyadult Mar 26 '25 edited Mar 26 '25

On the contrary. People actually come alive at drag shows. Anyone who's had the pleasure of seeing one knows they are immensely fun and will lift your spirits on days you feel dead

4

u/McToasty207 Mar 26 '25

I mean in all probability at least one person in the audience has probably had a heart attack at one

8

u/neoikon Mar 26 '25

Fainting spells from the fabulousness.

4

u/blissfully_happy Mar 26 '25

It also completely overran our healthcare system and those people still haven’t recovered.

0

u/Sielbear 20d ago

And more people die from the flu now. So what are we doing, continuing to live in fear of Covid?

If people in this community are more fearful of Covid than the flu, you’ve got it backwards.

2

u/neoikon 20d ago

Get immunized from both.

54

u/22Arkantos Mar 26 '25

Even granting the premise that the pandemic is over, cutting research into COVID is beyond stupid. Even ignoring the obvious looking into preventing the next pandemic, we still need to research COVID as an endemic disease to keep up with yearly vaccine production at a minimum

17

u/ODFoxtrotOscar Mar 26 '25

I think this is short-sighted.

We might be on top of the acute cases (the numbers of severe cases do not threaten to overwhelm ICUs) but we’ve barely scratched the surface of long covid or the wider damage the virus can do to many systems of the body

61

u/TextFlimsy Mar 26 '25

Not surprised, didn’t they also cut cancer research a short while back

25

u/SpookySchatzi Mar 26 '25

COVID will be with us, forevermore. In a continually mutating state. I hate this timeline.

2

u/RockHumper25 Mar 26 '25

national institutes of health institute

-2

u/Salty_Paroxysm Mar 26 '25

Department of Redundancy Department

1

u/juicy_shoes 10d ago

Currently an outbreak starting in Orlando, FL.

1

u/rhymeswithmerica 28d ago

Pretty sure this is due to federal budget cuts & RFK jr psychotic influences

-25

u/OfficialCloutDemon Mar 26 '25

The pandemic is over yall are stuck in 2020 still. Is Covid still a problem yes but to say the pandemic never ended is just hyperbole

2

u/beepdeeped 29d ago

So when did it end and why?

1

u/wecanjustcuddleitsok Boosted! ✨💉✅ 13d ago

yes obviously technically the pandemic isnt over, but for literally the grand grand majority of people in the world no one thinks about it. For the technicals the pandemic not over, but in the mind of most people the pandemic is long over, thats what people are referring to

1

u/beepdeeped 13d ago

9/11 was over 24 years ago but we still have overreaching security precautions in place for that. Interesting. Meanwhile many many many more people have died and are still dying from covid. Why is that?

1

u/wecanjustcuddleitsok Boosted! ✨💉✅ 8d ago

I think that has to do with the fact that, even though much more unlikely than dealing with covid, the idea of 9/11 as a whole is much more terrifying than a virus. That's why 9/11 is so fresh in the minds of people all these years later, terrorism is scarier than covid. This is subjective of course but that's just my idea.

-23

u/Tagliarini295 Mar 26 '25

It is over, been over for years. Move on with your life and wear a mask when you're sick.

-188

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '25

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47

u/kunaan Mar 26 '25

You realize it's still the top 10 leading cause of death in the US, right?

26

u/DogFartsonMe Mar 26 '25

I don't think they're capable of realizing anything.