Following the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Long COVID, the Australian Government has committed $50 million in funding to what they term PASC (Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19). This funding is for 2023-2024 and comes from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
A breakdown of this funding is as follows:
- Nearly half, $24m to go to “models of care” and “health outcomes”. I find this curious, given the abundance of research on how to support those with disability, i.e. with a strong social safety net, fully funded Medicare, public housing and welfare system.
- $10m for two projects “to identify how people experience PASC, including the impact on their physical and mental health and social and emotional wellbeing.”
- $7m, or 7 projects at $1m, to investigate either pathophysiology OR “build knowledge of key factors that impact PASC prognosis, including but not limited to psychosocial, physical and behavioural contributors”
- A mere $9m for “therapeutic interventions”, both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical. Four projects in stage 1 at $0.25m each; one project in stage 2 at $8m. What’s the bet the project that gets to stage 2 is “non pharmaceutical”?
So all up – that’s $34m on ‘social factors’, $7m to be shared between pathophysiology and “psychosocial contributors”, and $9m for both pharmaceutical and non pharmaceutical interventions. The conflation of biomarkers and the psychological, of medicine and what is likely to be harmful exercise therapies, means this research funding is likely to have little benefit for those with Long COVID or ME/CFS.
History repeats itself – true biomedical research is under funded, research money is squandered, and millions are neglected.
Chronically Siobhan 
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