WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders is pushing for a protracted Covid “moonshot.” He launched a draft legislative proposal this week, a observe as much as a milestone listening to in January that sounded the alarm on lengthy Covid as a urgent public well being disaster.
The pitch requires $10 billion in obligatory funding over the subsequent decade to ascertain a brand new lengthy Covid analysis program on the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. This cash — $1 billion per yr — can be along with, and safer than, the funding just lately put aside to proceed the RECOVER trial. Whereas the proposal continues to be in its early levels within the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions which the Vermont senator chairs, it may give lengthy Covid researchers extra runway to seek out much-needed therapies. A part of the plan would assist fast-track therapy trials.
A latest analysis of survey data discovered that 3 in 10 U.S. adults mentioned they’d signs of Covid that lasted longer than 3 months. About 1 in 10 mentioned they nonetheless had these signs. That’s about 17 million folks at present coping with points like mind fog or intense fatigue, which might intervene with their life and involvement within the workforce. About 25% of individuals with lengthy Covid mentioned the situation limits their actions “loads,” in line with the KFF report.
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