NIH frivolous

With an annual budget of $32,000,000,000 (billion) per year, the National Institutes of Health is the "largest public funder of biomedical research in the world".

About fifteen years ago there were drugs (such as hydroxychloroquine) that might be effective against a coronavirus. The NIH could have led the way in rigorous, clinical trials  to make them ready for any future pandemic - ready in the sense of scientifically proven and available to save lives.

Instead of effectively handling the pandemic we're now in, our biomedical community has been arguing over which drugs to use.

Some say the NIH didn't have enough money and resources to research the drugs that showed promise. However, they apparently had enough money and resources to study other  burning issues:

• does drinking encourage gambling among people 12-30 years old? ($350k)
• does TV affect family formation in Vietnamese villages? ($750k)
• could anti-obesity hip hop songs make kids healthier? (over $3 million)
• could people live longer if they take more steps? (spoiler: yes)
• why are lesbian women more overweight than gay men? ($3 million)

As an American tax payer, I wish they had spent resources to find out which drugs would help pandemic victims.

from Just the News