President Joe Biden on Tuesday directed his administration to develop a national research plan on long COVID, a condition believed to be affecting millions of Americans.
Biden issued a presidential memorandum instructing the head of the Department of Health and Human Services to “coordinate a new effort across the federal government to develop and issue the first-ever interagency national research action plan on Long COVID,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
“The effort will advance progress in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and provision of services, supports and interventions for individuals experiencing Long COVID and associated conditions,” it stated.
Long COVID is a “wide range of new, returning or ongoing health problems people can experience four or more weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms can include fatigue, brain fog, muscle or joint pain and shortness of breath. Its cause is unknown.
“HHS will lead a government wide interagency coordinating council, which will involve experts from the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, the Labor Department and many entities across government to coordinate both public and private sector work to advance our understanding of long COVID and to accelerate efforts to prevent, detect and treat it in real time,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“We will share lessons on how to prevent, detect and treat long COVID, and this coordinated effort will help ensure our research is being directed toward the people who need care the most,” Becerra continued.
A Government Accountability Office report published last month found that long COVID has “potentially affected up to 23 million Americans, pushing an estimated 1 million people out of work.”
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“The full magnitude of health and economic effects is unknown but is expected to be significant,” it stated.
Many have become frustrated with how slowly research on the condition has progressed.
The National Institutes of Health was granted roughly $1.2 billion in funds from Congress to study long COVID 15 months ago, but STAT News reports that it has recruited only 3% of its planned patient enrollment so far.
The White House said in its fact sheet that it will “accelerate the enrollment of approximately 40,000 individuals with and without Long COVID” into the study.
