Thread by @lpachter

In @NobelPrize news, the 2013 chemistry laureate links to a thread that says NIAID is "reminding people of their importance" right now because of a "vested interest" in maintaining high levels of @NIH funding, funding which they do not deserve.

https://twitter.com/MLevitt_NP2013/status/1312916520423616516?s=20

1/10

He writes that this conspiracy theory “cannot come as a surprise to any US doctor nor any journalist of any repute.” 2/10

First of all, NIAID does not receive more funding than all other @NIH institutes as claimed in the thread: niaid.nih.gov/grants-contrac… 3/10

Second, the thread linked to argues that infectious diseases don’t kill many Americans so we shouldn’t fund research in that area. Well... thankfully... NIAID funds vaccine research... which is why we are not dying from infectious disease. niaid.nih.gov/research/vacci… 4/10

And thankfully NIAID is now able to fund #covid19 research: niaid.nih.gov/diseases-condi…

This is literally the research that is saving lives right now with novel therapeutics, and it is the research that will deliver vaccines. 5/10

The NIAID also funds crucial research into antimicrobial (drug) resistance:

This is quite possibly among the most important research areas in biomedicine right now. niaid.nih.gov/research/antim… 6/10

And it is the primary funding agency for immunology, including some of the most promising therapies for cancer: niaid.nih.gov/grants-contrac… 7/10

I really cannot think of a dumber thread one could write in the middle of a pandemic, when our lives literally depend on NIAID research right now, and will for years to come. 8/10

Now I get that some anonymous account on @twitter can say something this stupid and absurd. But the stupidity and disgusting conspiracy theory...this is something a @NobelPrize laureate amplified and validated in a tweet. It’s beyond words that he would do that. 9/10

And on a day when the @NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine was announced, let's not forget that this person was literally one of the people the @NobelPrize committee relied on for nominations. nobelprize.org/nomination/med… 10/10

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