1/ There’s a lot of press about new initiatives to support Covid-19 research. Emphasis is on speed and quick turnaround of ideas to results. Understandable as the world is on fire. But…

2/ Pretty much all of the best infectious disease experts (at least those that have time to do research) are already quite well funded. Moreover, research takes time and promising solutions sooner is either fantasy or intentionally misleading.

3/ That’s not to say that more research couldn’t be done, rather that now isn’t the time to be reducing due diligence. There’s a reason adjudication takes time. It can be made more efficient, but fast turnaround cuts important corners.

4/ And there is some excellent research into Covid-19 being done - when it can. Critical shortages of mundane things like swabs and PCR reagents limit what can be achieved. We cannot raid clinical supply chains. But that’s not the biggest issue.

5/ Most research labs are shut down. Most trainees are at home. Their funding is depleting by the day. They work on *every other health issue*. The charities that support their research are seeing massive reductions in donations.

6/ They are not eligible for financial support and yet they’re training to mitigate the non-Covid killers, the next therapies, the next test, the next preventative supports, for the next generation.

7/ Pretty soon, these people will realize that, post-pandemic, the health research ecosystem will be substantively smaller than it was a month ago. That societal priorities will be on managing the larger impact on society. Am not arguing that those priorities are wrong.

8/ However, we should put the current rush to fund Covid-19 science in context. Post pandemic, do we want to set the progress made in the past decade in cancer, heart disease, mental health, etc. back 20 years? Because once lost, the new generation of researchers will not return.