Scientist lashes out at Aussie government

A virus expert has slammed the Australian government, claiming years of funding cuts have left us on the back foot when it comes to developing a COVID-19 vaccine.

A virus expert has slammed the Australian government, claiming years of funding cuts have left us on the back foot when it comes to developing a COVID-19 vaccine.

Emergency doctor and research leader at Griffith University, Dr Lara Herrero, told the ABC this morning she welcomed the announcement of $6 million in funding from the Medical Research Future Fund which will be split between several universities which are developing potential coronavirus vaccines.

But she said Australia would have been in a far better position if science and research been adequately funded in the first place.

“Obviously any extra funding is welcomed by the scientific community. But it‘s a bit of a shame. It seems to be a knee jerk reaction in this case,” she said.

“Australia has some of the best scientists in the world and I think that we could have been better prepared had funding been more secure for the last decade.

“Funding has been drying up, so it‘s unfortunate.”

Dr Herrero said the government needed to rethink its approach.

“The government needs to look at not slashing research funding every chance they get, which seems to be their hobby. And that‘s perhaps me being a little jaded having spent 15 years as a researcher in virology and the virus field,” she said.

“I think that we need to have a good, hard look at our budgets and recognise…proactive research is the way forward, and we need many millions, $6 million is nothing. But in terms of the federal budget, that is pittance. And a little bit of money in a relative sense can go a long way in protecting our country.”

Dr Herrero also predicted “very good things” from the University of Queensland team ‘in the next few months, and certainly into the beginning of next year” when it came to a potential vaccine.