NIH Cuts Billions in Grants for Covid-19 Research

On March 26, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began cancelling billions of dollars in grant funding for research related to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A list of research activities no longer supported by the agency was sent to NIH grant management specialists, who were ordered to identify grants for termination. The list included Covid-19, along with topics like vaccine hesitancy, climate change, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). NIH has awarded nearly $850 million in grants to nearly 600 ongoing projects related to Covid-19; it is unclear which will be affected by the cuts. The CDC plans to cancel $11.4 billion in funds for pandemic response, including Covid testing, vaccination, and community health workers.

Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, called the cuts a “real slap in the face of the many patients struggling with the long-term health effects of COVID infections.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement “the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”

Update: Cuts to dozens of long-Covid research projects were reversed in early April 2025, following an intense advocacy campaign by researchers and activists, many of whom themselves have long-Covid.