ZOE Covid study: British government stops funding
The UK government is cutting funding for the world’s largest Covid-19 study, in a move scientists have described as a “very bad mistake”.
Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London, who is leading the initiative, called the decision “truly disappointing”, saying they had only received this news with weeks’ notice. “Just a few weeks ago the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was virtually certain they would continue to fund us,” he said.
He continued: “ZOE is going to be the tool that protects the UK from the next pandemic and saves the NHS millions as we try to find ways to prevent major diseases.”
ZOE is a study that has three main components, including the study of Covid symptoms. Other diseases ZOE is researching include heart disease, cancer and dementia.
Their Covid Symptoms Study currently has over 4 million participants, who report how they feel (symptoms or not) in an app. Researchers then use software algorithms to predict who has the virus and track infections in the UK, US and Sweden.
The results of the ZOE Covid study led to the conclusion that a loss of smell and taste was a key indicator for having contracted Covid, leading the government in 2020 to add it to the official list of symptoms of Covid-19.
Other key findings emerging from their research included confirmation that vaccinated adults contracting Covid have less severe symptoms compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, that early symptoms of Covid-19 differ across different age groups, and that those urban areas and disadvantaged areas are disproportionately impacted by Covid.
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It has led to over 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers, which have helped shape government policy in response to the pandemic.
The government has funded the study for the past 18 months. As a short-term measure, the three co-owners of ZOE will now finance the study until a long-term financing solution is found.
ZOE scientists have encouraged anyone who sees value in their research to ‘respectfully and constructively’ share their views with the UKHSA, in the hope of encouraging a modified response.
The UKHSA has been asked to comment.