WIRED: The NIH Launches a Global Hunt for Animal-to-Human Diseases
“On Wednesday, a group of scientists gathered — virtually, of course — to share their research on a video call. At this point in the Covid-19 pandemic, that was utterly normal. What was not at all normal: The group was launching an international network to detect pathogens that can jump from wildlife to the human population, a field of inquiry that’s become politicized since the coronavirus pandemic began — and they were doing it with federal money, even though the United States government has been the source of the politicization. The network, known as CREID (for Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases), was announced three weeks ago by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases within the National Institutes of Health…” (McKenna, 9/17).