Since @lpachter insists on repeated hit jobs on @MLevitt_NP2013, I thought I would look at some of the wisdom that Lior lays out in this thread

Unfortunately for Lior, I was in the middle of looking through NIAID project funding for 2020

Let's see how he did

1 https://twitter.com/lpachter/status/1313164789342855168

So @MLevitt_NP2013 was replying to this tweet by me about how much funding the NIAID received relative to the impact that allergens and infectious disease have on mortality in the US

Dr. Levitt replied that people should not be surprised by this (I am)

2 https://twitter.com/gummibear737/status/1312846733349617664?s=20

In my tweet, I specified that NIAID received the "most money for their projects"

I never said funding or budget

According to the NIH Reporter, the NIAID has spent the largest amount on their active projects

link: https://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter_summary.cfm#tab2

$700 mil more than cancer

3

Now, to be fair, if Lior had done his homework, the correct argument would have been that the active projects include additional funding allocated for COVID-19

If you subtract $900 mil from the NIAID budget then they would move into 2nd place

Doesn't change my point though

4

Here Lior is talking out of his a...

Of the top 275 funded projects awarded by the NIAID:

63% of funds are allocated towards the SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine and HIV/HIV Vaccine

Other Vaccine Research: ~3%

If only Lior had spent as much time on research as he did picking out memes

5

The only problem is that of the top 275 NIAID budgeted projects:

-30% is for a SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine
-4% is for therapeutics

75% of the therapeutics budget went to PPD Inc. and it's not clear how they're using it...could also be used for vaccine

link: https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=10245506&icde=52048016&ddparam=&ddvalue=&ddsub=&cr=5&csb=AA&cs=DESC&pball=

6

As an aside, the fact that so little is allocated to COVID-19 therapeutics is scandalous

Also, there was not one project in the top 275 for repurposing existing drugs

All the eggs were put into the vaccine basket - and this in the context of not knowing if they will work

7

Even worse is that Lior linked to the vaccine trials for "mRNA-1273"

NIAID partnered with Moderna on the development of their mRNA vaccine

This is extremely controversial because no human mRNA vaccine has ever succeeded

Many scientists are skeptical

8 https://twitter.com/gummibear737/status/1288948950632927232?s=20

In 2020, of the top 275 funded projects, only 2.8% of the budget went towards:
-Bacterial studies
-Antibiotics
-Antibiotic resistance

I fully agree this is an important area, but it doesn't seem like this is a big priority for them

9

Poor Lior, again he tweets without reading what he links to:

"$5 million in total costs in fiscal year 2020 to fund 5 to 10 awards"

It's peanuts!

The 275th largest project funded by NIAID was for $2.2 million

Didn't find one such project in top 275

10 https://twitter.com/lpachter/status/1313165966331703297?s=20

The NIAID has done little to prepare for this pandemic

They've spent most of their budget on HIV research in recent years even though only around 13,000 Americans die of AIDS each year

Their big plan: mRNA Vaccine nobody wants

Do I still sound so "stupid and absurd" Lior?

10

So I'm a conspiracy theorist?

You strike me like the type of person who gets your science straight from CNN

You're out of your depth on this topic

You haven't done your homework and you have no idea what you're talking about

I'm actually a bit embarrassed for you

Thanks!

11