After 54 years at the NIH, today marks Dr. Anthony Fauci's last day in office as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). While many were angered by his changing and conflicting recommendations, I am not. They are mere symptoms of a much larger and deeper problem. Dr. Fauci's agency failed to promptly fund key research during the pandemic. That research would have abruptly ended many of the COVID controversies that divided our country.
In a study of NIH funding published in The BMJ, my Johns Hopkins colleagues and I found that in the first year of the pandemic, it took the NIH an average of five months to give money to researchers after they were awarded a COVID grant. This should be unacceptable during a health emergency.
One of many reasons why bureaucratic systems should never be allowed to grow beyond a certain size.
Nice read, with an honest concluding remark.