Why Budget Cuts Have Nothing to Do With Developing an Ebola Vaccine

Some government health officials have joined Democrats in blaming the lack of an Ebola vaccine on budget cuts orchestrated by Republicans. However, more federal funding likely would not have led to creation of a vaccine to combat the deadly disease, since pharmaceutical companies had little incentive to do so.

In addition, a review of federal budget figures by The Daily Signal shows that in recent years steady funding has been available for programs related to vaccines, which can take many years to develop.

What’s more, Ebola is absent from the relevant strategic plan within the National Institutes of Health.

NIH Director Francis Collins said last week that cuts to his agency’s budget prevented researchers from developing a vaccine for Ebola.

The claim by Dr. Collins in an interview with The Huffington Post angered some knowledgeable observers. They pointed to questionable NIH-funded studies and research initiatives over the years: one exploring why lesbians tend to be overweight compared to gay men, another on the sex lives of fruit flies and another looking into the communication skills of chimpanzees that throw their own feces

http://dailysignal.com/2014/10/17/h...thing-to-do-with-developing-an-ebola-vaccine/