Long Covid research faces funding cut as NIH terminates grant, highlighting political neglect

Steven Phillips, a science strategist at the COVID Collaborative, notes that a two‑year study of long Covid’s impact on the nervous system was halted when the NIH withdrew its RECOVER grant, labeling it incompatible with agency priorities. The termination notice arrived in March 2025, just weeks before the data analysis was to be completed, leaving the researcher and patients disappointed.

The grant’s cancellation reflects a broader trend of long Covid being removed from federal attention. Phillips argues that attempts to fit the condition into traditional biomedical frameworks have failed, leading to its political erasure.

The article suggests that the decision was not an isolated incident but part of a systematic shift in policy that deprioritized long Covid research, leaving patients without the promised scientific insights.