Republican representative Jim Jordan grilled a top federal health official Nicole Lurie over why the government seems to have expended so much resources on odd types of research while letting work on an Ebola vaccine languish.
The Ohio lawmaker zeroed in on grants provided by the National Institutes of Health for projects such as children’s puppet shows and studies on the health benefits of rerun television. The official, Dr. Nicole Lurie, is responsible for approving and coordinating such grants.
“Might we be a little closer to having a vaccine today if you weren’t allowing all this millions of dollars — $39 million — to be spent on what many Americans view as questionable uses for their tax dollars, particularly in light of the fact that we have an Ebola outbreak in the United States?” Jordan asked.
Lurie explained that two separate vaccines were already in “safety testing.” But Jordan wouldn’t let up. “Might we be further along if that money had not been spent someplace, and could have been applied to the question at hand?” he asked.
“I don’t believe that would be the case,” she replied.
“You don’t think $39 million would help us get closer to the development of a vaccine?” the congressman asked.
“The development of a vaccine is a long and complicated process,” she said, before finally saying she is “not in a position to comment on the overall NIH budget.”
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