I guess Covid is over

Or at least we're over it.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health are scrambling to decide whether all its coronavirus research and development can continue after Congress dropped new funding from its sweeping budget bill.

There are immediate implications for government trials on Covid-19 therapies, tests and vaccines that run out of funds as soon as this month, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO.

“We would like to understand which March activities can be delayed, de-scoped, paused, etc. and what the consequences are of choosing this option,” Health and Human Services Department program analyst Thomas Libert wrote to NIH agency officials in a Thursday email.

NIH staff overseeing dozens of trials for coronavirus treatments, vaccines and variant evolution are spending Friday discussing how to limit or wind down certain trials, estimating that they are more than $1 billion short on funding to continue all their research.

[...]

Libert in his email warned that top officials assumed there would be no new coronavirus funding in the 2023 fiscal year and that “agencies should be prepared to use base funding to continue any COVID activities” in the next year, writing “no new activities should be funded at this time. This includes expansion of ongoing efforts.”

[...]

The budget crunch comes after House Democrats tossed $15.6 billion in coronavirus relief spending from the omnibus bill earlier this week amid caucus complaints that their states’ assistance would decline to pay for the new relief spending. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to pass new coronavirus spending separately, stand-alone legislation has a slim chance in the Senate, where many lawmakers have questioned how health agencies spent past funding.

The $15.6 billion allotment was already a significant cut from health officials’ original $30 billion request to continue buying Covid-19 vaccines, therapies and tests as well as conducting research.

[...]

Officials warn that if these trials are curtailed, the country will not be equipped to respond to another surge or a new coronavirus variant.

  Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.