On August 27, 2020 the US NIH announced that the NIAID has established the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID), justified by the “impact” of COVID-19 pandemic, they promise to set up worldwide surveillance architecture to identify the next pandemic pathogen before it moves from animal to human. [1, 2, 7]. Coronaviruses begin the pathogen list.
The Global Network is to focus on “spillover Potential”, starting with “11 grants with a total first-year value of approximately $17 million” with a projected $82 million over 5 years. “The global network will involve multidisciplinary investigations into how and where viruses and other pathogens emerge from wildlife and spillover to cause disease in people.”
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a potent reminder of the devastation that can be wrought when a new virus infects humans for the first time…”
said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci
The CREID Coordinating Center is a partnership between the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) parnered with non-profit RTI International. [3, 4, 6]
- DHVI just happen to be researching a pan-coronavirus “super vaccine” for protection against future variants! [5]
Included in CREID’s initial 10 principal investigators and grant recipients were Kristian Andersen [2] of Scripps Research Institute and Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance. CREID is working with China. [1]