Saying 'pandemic is over,' NIH institute starts cutting Covid-19 research

32 points by thenerdhead 3 months ago | 23 comments
  • stevenbedrick 3 months ago
    Without getting into the question of what it means for the pandemic to be "over", I think it's relevant to point out that at least some of the cancelled grants are not studying COVID per se, but rather are studying things relevant to preparing for the next pandemic. Jeremy Berg (a former director of NIGMS) has some commentary, and mentions that the AVIDD program was among those that were terminated: https://bsky.app/profile/jeremymberg.bsky.social/post/3lla4k...

    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.

    • baja_blast 3 months ago
      I really wish more research was funneled into vaccines that target T-cells instead of B cells which produce antibodies. You see viruses mutate quickly and antibodies produced by the b cells can be evaded pretty quickly, but T-cells the white blood cells that actually eat the viruses are far more adaptable.
      • amy_petrik 3 months ago
        B cell antibodies are a the B cell receptor. T cell antibodies are the T cell receptor, which is just an antibody attached to the T-cell (in simplistic terms of a complex system). There are other tradeoffs. B-cell antibodies have a much larger "state space" of combinatorics; but are not active in little babbies unlike T-cells which are. I think you're thinking of more of the innate immune system, more like macrophages and neutrophils and such, and yea it would be interesting to figure something that engages those.. such as exogenous antibodies.

        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.

    • johnnyanmac 3 months ago
      >prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again

      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.

      • jerlam 3 months ago
        Make America Healthy Again

        It doesn't include things like making necessary medications affordable, or food programs, since those are items being cut.

    • PaulKeeble 3 months ago
      The latest studies show Long Covid is still growing quite fast. In the UK the GP Patient survey (of 2 million patients) had 5% knowing they suffered and a further 10% unsure if they did. A similar question put to NHS healthcare workers came back with 38% sure they had Long Covid. Both numbers are well up from the year before.

      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.

      • WorldPeas 3 months ago
        I literally just got covid and it was bad as the first time I got it. Anecdotal, n=1 even, but it's still here.
      • superkuh 3 months ago
        For me it's not over till there's an FDA approved intranasal sars-cov-2 vaccine (mucosal) to complement the intramuscular (humoral) one. Different immune compartments, different antibodies, different tissues/organs protected. It's like we did 2/3 of the race, declared victory and walked off.

        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.

        • elif 3 months ago
          There's plenty of commercial products you can use to enhance the antiviral protection of your mucosal immune system. Zicam sells one. It's a goop. you rub in your nose preemptively. I'm also in the no covid club (over 150 negative tests) and I put a lot of credit for that on the nose goop.
          • anon84873628 3 months ago
            What is your biggest concern about the mucosal tissues? Loss of taste/smell?

            I remember folks making their own intranasal vaccines with research peptides. What is your analysis of that?

            • elzbardico 3 months ago
              The upper respiratory tract mucosal tissues are the places most respiratory viruses colonize first upon subject exposure. Intranasal vaccines can trigger mucosal immunity, especially secretory IgA antibodies, right at the site of infection. That’s something injected vaccines usually can’t do well.

              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.

              • superkuh 3 months ago
                The nervous system damage like that is certainly a big concern. Especially with the adjacency of the mucosal tissues of the sinuses, etc, to the central nervous system proper. And then there's the problem that intramuscular sars-cov-2 vaccination has basically zero measurable effect on long-covid syndrome(s). I really just wanted my entire body to be protected before being infected and the viral load as low as possible during infection.

                >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.

              • 0_____0 3 months ago
                Tangent, feel free to downvote but I want to (lightly) rant.

                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.

                • WorldPeas 3 months ago
                  One has to wonder if this is the outcome of generational wealth becoming too entrenched. At a certain point billionaires aren't interested in generative activity, rather they're interested in preservation of what they have.
                  • 0_____0 3 months ago
                    Behaviorally advanced structures of capital will try to entrench themselves (and have, see Standard Oil, Bell et. al.) but what I'm most confused by is the consent of the people for it today.

                    People voted for Tax Cuts for Billionaires and apparently the dismantling of the administrative state. At this point I feel like a different species from my countrymen on issues of the state. Funny thing is, I work with and talk to Trumpy people often enough and the ones I know are usually pretty on top of things in person. How does my contractor who has good sense in construction, family life etc. run around with a Trump sticker on his car? What does he think is happening? What am I missing?

              • elzbardico 3 months ago
                The pandemic is over, just like the Spanish Flu pandemic is over, but the virus is still in the wild, and it will be, probably forever.

                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.

                • jmye 3 months ago
                  > People need to emotionally detach themselves from COVID.

                  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?

                  • elzbardico 3 months ago
                    It would be more polite of you if you restrained yourself to answer what I actually said, instead of answering your interpretation of my words.

                    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.