USA: The RECOVER Initiative - Long Covid research

Devastating if this is true. They are terminating the entire RECOVER initiative right in the middle of it!!

https://cen.acs.org/policy/research-funding/NIH-cancels-RECOVER-grants-long/103/web/2025/03

This hasn’t hit mainstream media yet we will see a lot more news on it very soon

 

It doesn't look like they're explicitly shutting the whole RECOVER program down, based on the article. At least not yet.

 

Given everything the admin has said about reorg and priorities and their actions so far, people should expect more than not that RECOVER will end

 

And especially the pathobiological studies which were the only ones worth investing in, in the first place.

 

Yeah, unfortunately. The choice of Bhattacharya made this inevitable. He was one of the sell-out main signatories of the "Great Barrington" plan. He obviously wants to cover up all the consequences.

It's weird, I don't even feel anything about it, I expected it to happen. I got to the point where I expected nothing out of it anyway, even if this wasn't happening, once the first bumbling around made it clear there is no one in charge there.

The worst case, most appallingly wrong, scenario. Every. Single. Time. This is the only reason why I keep saying that only AI can solve this. It's not because it's the only way, it's that humans are awful at this stuff and can't put in the effort they need to. Not after everything that happened. It's either a revolutionary transformation of everything, or nothing. I expect even worse news soon. Life just sucks.

 

What's darkly funny about this is that it's not even different than the last few decades. They say stuff. They don't mean the stuff they say. No one cares. Nothing happens. Failure from ideologues, or failure from other ideologues. It's all the same in the end.

 

I doubt they had much say, but they are likely very happy with this, even if they wouldn't admit it publicly. For sure people like Walitt are very happy.

They are no different than literal chaos agents working for oligarchs uninterested in any concept of public health, who literally want to destroy the institutions tasked with it, and are motivated by covering up a giant crime, but the medical profession has already accepted their ideology so it goes largely unnoticed.

All of this should make them question everything they stand for. But they won't. Internet trolls and conspiracy fantasy communities have long loved their psychosomatic trash, and they don't even notice it. It's really absurd seeing how clownish and immature humanity is, top to bottom.

 

Has this been shared yet?

The Sick Times: 'UPDATE: RECOVER Long COVID pathobiology grants restored'

'Long COVID research grants from the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER program will be restored following news stories about their abrupt cancellations and advocacy to restore the funding, according to patient representatives in the initiative.'

'This returned funding is a rare win for Long COVID advocates and researchers amid a climate of fear and uncertainty.'

From Nature reporter Max Kozlov:

https://bsky.app/profile/maxkozlov.bsky.social/post/3llhld2yzm22n

Text: "Confirming this scoop by@thesicktimes.bsky.social - an HHS source says that Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), who secured a commitment from RFK Jr. during his confirmation hearing that he'd continue funding long COVID research, intervened."

 

Having an ally in the senate really pays off. Wow. That’s a lot of money that would have been gone that we’ve got back.

 

https://bsky.app/profile/daniellebeckman.bsky.social

Danielle Beckman (Long COVID researcher): Our grant was not restored, but I am happy to see some are!

 

C&EN: 'NIH restores some long COVID grants'

'The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) appears to be reversing course on its decision to abruptly cancel a spate of grants for long COVID research earlier this week'

 

Scientific American: COVID Research Funding to Be Slashed, NIH Documents Show

 

Technology Networks: 'Pregnant Women Less Likely to Develop Long COVID'

'part of the National Institutes of Health's RECOVER initiative'

'examined electronic health record data from approximately 72,000 pregnant women and 208,000 non-pregnant controls'

 

@Dakota15 are you aware of any news surrounding genetic work happening at RECOVER?

 

@EndME Unfortunately I do not

 

2/28/25, Make Visible: 'Understanding Complex Illness: Post-Pandemic prevalence of ME/CFS - what we can learn from the increase with Suzanne Vernon, PhD'

Vernon: “So, I think from a research perspective, the pandemic provided an unprecedented opportunity to study a large group of people that developed ME/CFS from the same exact trigger, and that being SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

“But again, the pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic provided us with just an incredible opportunity now to look at this one entry way into ME/CFS.

Host: "I'm actually finding this with multiple researchers that whilst obviously post-COVID condition is not optimal for those suffering from it, and no one is saying that it's a good thing, it is providing this wealth of information that enables you to study these illnesses with that specific start point. And you have then gone on to write so many papers simply in those last five years, looking at the differences and similarities between the post-COVID and what you define as ME/CFS."

Vernon: "We focused on the 15,000 adult participants that were enrolled as the adult cohort in RECOVER...And then we just crunched the numbers. I mean, the nice thing about the RECOVER Initiative is it's a longitudinal study. So all of these people are followed every three months up until now. I mean, I think they're still being followed. So the data that was published in this paper was actually a data dump from as late as September of 2024. So really super, super fresh data and just an incredible data set.”

“RECOVER used, I mean, thank goodness they actually asked about post-exertional malaise and that's really thanks to a lot of advocacy from the ME/CFS community that was involved in the design of the RECOVER study.”

“I hope it's going to reveal a great deal about not only what is causing ME/CFS, but again, how it can be treated and what are the different targets that we can look at for treatment.”

Host: “Now, there has been a lot of criticism of RECOVER....I have heard it from researchers in the US who have said that they did not necessarily include sufficient people either with lived experience or with the depth of knowledge of post-viral conditions when they were designing their teams and their studies. You obviously, in terms of the data that you have been able to gather from RECOVER, have found it immensely useful. Can you tell me your thoughts on the way this is structured and the information that you feel that Recover should be able to bring us?”

Vernon: "...anyway, so it was a large group, 200 plus investigators initially, together with the NIH and people with lived experience involved in the design. Bateman Horne Center was one of the only groups that was involved in RECOVER that was actually, I think, funded to some level to be an investigator in there. So there was ME/CFS research and clinical expertise involved, but it was, I mean, at least it was there.”

“But I think we've made incredible progress at helping people understand post-COVID ME/CFS is there, is important, and needs to be part of the research. And that's evidenced by the fact that look at all these people on this paper. From academic institutions that I could have never have even imagined to have had the opportunity to work with. And these are all people that now, it's like, wow, this is ME/CFS. This is something. This is important."

“I'm really excited that this paper finally got published. I think it's evidence that we've been needing for a very long time. I'm also very excited by the RECOVER Initiative because we have not had a study of this scale ever, ever.”

“So, RECOVER has the opportunity, I think, to really provide that type of evidence base that has been really sought after by the pharmaceutical companies to get involved.”

 

Is there a thread on this study? Was looking and didn't find yet

CIDRAP: 'COVID-19 re-infection doubles risk of long COVID in kids, young adults, data reveal'

'The retrospective cohort study used data from the RECOVER consortium collected from 40 US children's hospitals from January 2022 through October 2023, when the Omicron variant was predominant. The study involved 465,717 patients 20 years old and younger with confirmed COVID-19 during the study period; the median age was 8 years. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.'

Study link.

 

Univ. of Virginia: 'A Healthier Future—One Clinical Trial at a Time: An Interview With Alexandra Kadl, MD'

'In this latest installment of our series “A Healthier Future—One Clinical Trial at a Time,” we spoke with Dr. Kadl to learn more about UVA’s long COVID clinic and its participation in the RECOVER clinical trials.'