We want to make you aware of new funding allocated through the Covid-19 relief package that has potential to make a real impact for ME, and why our federal agency work is at the forefront of all that we do. 

It was announced before the new year that $1.25 billion will be allocated to the NIH to “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.” Of this money, “$1.15 billion shall be provided for research and clinical trials related to long-term studies of COVID–19.”

Dr. Larry Tabak, Principal Deputy Director, NIH confirmed that this money will be used to look at post-acute COVID syndrome. Dr. Tabak further specified that they will develop a “trans-NIH approach” to prioritizing and dispersing the funds. What this means is that the $1.15 billion will have a big impact for long COVID studies and those studies could include people with ME- if we fight hard for that to happen.

#MEAction and our partner organizations will fight for that funding to appropriately include studies that involve ME and long COVID, which could potentially mean millions more dollars in research for ME.

We have our work cut out for us and we know what we need to do in 2021 –  advocate for NIH Director, Francis Collins, to use the money given to the NIH to benefit those that have new diagnoses of ME following COVID-19. 

We will keep you up to date on our work, and let you know the next steps forward.