Washington — Legislation not too long ago launched within the Senate would provide $1 billion in obligatory funding per 12 months for 10 years to the National Institutes of Health to assist research on long COVID-19.
Sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the Long COVID Research Moonshot Act of 2024 would direct NIH to set up a brand new research program with the aim of higher understanding, stopping, diagnosing, managing and treating long COVID and its associated circumstances, a press launch from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee states.
Symptoms of long COVID – no matter age or severity of preliminary an infection – can embody fatigue, cognitive impairment (also referred to as “brain fog”), shortness of breath, muscle/joint ache, coronary heart palpitations, sleep difficulties and temper adjustments.
Nationwide, greater than 22 million adults are affected by the situation – and up to 4 million persons are out of labor due to it, the discharge notes, citing federal estimates. “For many, the change in job status can also affect health insurance, further complicating treatment options.”
The bill additionally would:
- Require NIH to set up a long-COVID database, advisory board and a brand new grant course of that would speed up medical trials.
- Fund data gathering and public well being training.
- Require any new therapies developed by NIH to be “reasonably priced so that every patient can receive it.”
- Fund multidisciplinary long-COVID clinics that provide complete, coordinated care – particularly in underserved, disproportionately impacted communities.
- Develop and implement greatest practices for medical care and social companies.
This bill is endorsed by greater than 45 organizations, in accordance to the discharge.
“For too long, millions of Americans suffering from long COVID have had their symptoms dismissed or ignored – by the medical community, by the media and by Congress,” mentioned Sanders, who chairs the HELP Committee. “That is unacceptable and has got to change.”
