Major Funding Boost for Long COVID and ME/CFS Research

On November 13, 2025, €500 million (US $582 million) in funding was committed to long COVID and other post-infection syndromes for 2026 to 2036 under Germany’s new National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases. The initiative aims to address the significant public health burden created by long COVID and ME/CFS, both of which lack effective diagnostics and treatments. Global estimates suggest that six in every one hundred people who contract COVID-19 develop long COVID, and studies have documented substantial impacts on healthcare systems, disability, and the global economy.

The funding is designed to support research across a broad range of areas, including immunology, biomarkers, diagnostics, neurology, mental health, and long-term outcomes.

Experts emphasize the importance of identifying the mechanisms driving illness in each patient so that clinical trials can be targeted at those most likely to benefit, such as using antivirals in individuals with evidence of persistent viral infection or testing therapies that lower autoimmune-driven autoantibody activity.

Researchers also hope to expand work on the public health burden of post-infectious disease, including how acute viral infections can lead to chronic illness and how risk factors can be addressed.

The announcement follows a period of instability in global long COVID research funding, including the abrupt cancellation and partial restoration of several US National Institutes of Health projects earlier this year.

Despite setbacks, scientists say the field has made significant progress in understanding biological mechanisms, including immune dysregulation, viral persistence, and reactivation of latent pathogens such as the Epstein-Barr virus.