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The likelihood of snagging National Institutes of Health grants has plunged to historic lows, forcing frustrated academic researchers to resort to a variety of tactics to try to obtain funding and, in some cases, keep their jobs, according to a nationwide STAT survey and follow-up interviews with respondents.

NIH data show that securing research awards has become more competitive under the second Trump administration than ever before, and more unpredictable. Just 13% of applications were funded in the past fiscal year, and even top-rated proposals aren’t a sure thing.

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Our former colleagues in Congress recently heard from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the first time in more than half a year.

Several congressional committees held hearings with Kennedy as they examined the Trump administration’s budget priorities. It was a key opportunity for lawmakers to build on the administration’s significant health policy achievements — and for the most part, they seized it. While Democrats were predictably critical of the secretary’s every move, Republicans wisely pushed back on the administration’s proposal to reduce funding for the National Institutes of Health. And with good reason. Sustained NIH funding underpins the research and development pipeline that makes vaccines possible at a time when voter polling shows Americans want leaders that support vaccine access.

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