Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research the National Institute for Health and Care Research is undertaking on the potential link between Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and long covid.

The Government has invested more than £50 million into 22 research projects for long COVID, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation.

In the last five years, the NIHR has allocated approximately £3.44 million to support nine research projects on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome. The NIHR is also co-funding, with the Medical Research Council, a £3.2 million study called DecodeME, which is the world’s largest genetic study of the disease.

The Department commissions research through the NIHR. It is not currently specifically funding research on potential links between ME and long COVID, but it welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health.