Senator Bernie Sanders Introduces Long COVID Moonshot

[Dakota15]

Senator Bernie Sanders, 8/2/24: “Senator Sanders Introduces Historic Moonshot Legislation to Address the Long COVID Crisis"

Language embedded includes ME/CFS - if you have the spoons, please reach out to your elected officials with supporting this landmark legislation (of over $10 billion in allocated funds).

 

[BrightCandle]

I really hope it passes. I don't think its enough money to get the job done given the scale of the problem faced goes well beyond just research and I fear what the NIH will do with it but it hopefully an IACC department might start to change medicine for the better.

 

[hapl808]

Yeah, since HIV still gets $4b every year and they already have a number of effective treatments - $1b may be a drop in the bucket, but it's vastly more than any illness like this has ever received. If it got just $1b per year, that would be enough to fund hundreds of ID researchers and doctors going into the field (like HIV funding moved thousands to study it).

I have low expectations, but I hope it passes. I will vote for any candidate who makes this their priority no matter what their party or other platforms.

 

[Carl]

This will only get us long term drug treatments to treat symptoms and not a cure. Drug companies do everything they can possibly do to suppress cures for all illnesses most of which are driven by inflammation. That is so that they can continue selling very expensive drugs. Anyone get the connection between ME and inflammation?

There are too many people to serve their own self interests in Medicine IMO. That is why the truth about the hypothalamus in ME has not been revealed. That is so that the Psychology crowd can maintain their belief that ME sufferers can "think" their way out of this illness. There is a reason for low dopamine in ME which is closely connected to the damaged hypothalamus function which cannot be fixed by "thinking" correctly.

There are very intractable things which will mean that the only effective treatments and cures will not come from Modern Medicine IMO.

 

[southwestforests]

Language embedded includes ME/CFS

That is a good thing. May this effort be successful.

 

[Florida Guy]

This will only get us long term drug treatments to treat symptoms and not a cure. Drug companies do everything they can possibly do to suppress cures for all illnesses most of which are driven by inflammation. That is so that they can continue selling very expensive drugs.

Yes, that has been the case for many years. They look for a treatment but bury the cure

I would be happy with a treatment if it got rid of most or all symptoms and I could do what I did before. If I had to keep taking it, I will keep taking it. The trouble is we have no effective treatments so if this produces one, I will cheer no matter how expensive it might be. Everything is expensive but the government might cover part of the cost.

A billion a year is no small thing. Lots and lots of research can be done with that amount. If they had started this 10 years ago we might no longer have a problem. There could be study groups forming for new drugs and interventions that we might be able to get into in the future

 

[hapl808]

Yes, a billion per year is important - beyond the billion, the fact that it's recurring. We already got a billion for Long Covid and they did very little other than take the money. But when an annual budget is there, it will attract researchers and doctors into the field - as it did with HIV, Alzheimer's, cancer, etc. Very rarely will a field attract long term research without the guarantee of long term money. Medical schools will create programs if those programs get money.

I see people complaining that $1b isn't enough, but it's much easier to add to an annual budget over time (like with HIV - now $4b per year) than it is to create it in the first place.