Long COVID advocates have criticized the Biden administration in its fiscal year 2025 budget request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for providing “minimal funding” for long COVID.
“The Long COVID Campaign, in partnership with Long COVID Moonshot and Patient Led Research Collaborative, has called on Congressional leaders to appropriate at least $1.2 billion in FY25 funding for Long COVID research, while other patient groups are calling for even higher levels of funding to meet the magnitude of the need,” reads a Thursday press release.
“Despite the growing impact on the U.S. healthcare system, workforce and economy, the Biden Administration's FY25 budget request for the NIH had minimal funding for Long COVID research, treatment or care,” the press release continues.
A study last August found that those infected with even mild cases of COVID-19 could be at higher risk for heart problems, blood clots, diabetes, neurological complications and other complications for as long as two years.
“In its FY 2025 budget request, the Biden Administration has failed to ask Congress for the funding or provide relief to the 1 in 20 Americans suffering from Long COVID who desperately need it,” Meighan said Stone, executive director of the Long COVID Campaign, said in the press release.
“As Senate leaders debate $50 billion in NIH funding, we want to ensure that the millions of now-disabled and chronically ill Americans who are still waiting for eventual Long COVID tests, [Food and Drug Administration] approved treatments or urgency are not forgotten,” Stone continued.
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last September, about 18 million adults reported experiencing long-term COVID as of 2022.
The Hill has contacted the White House and the NIH.
