MRFF spent A$130m on Covid-19 research

Future fund reports on two-year pandemic push, with report praising fast response and collaboration

Australia’s Medical Research Future Fund has poured A$130 million into research on Covid-19, according to the latest spending report.

The report shows that the MRFF issued 24 separate rounds of grants between early 2020 and February 2022, the high point of the global coronavirus pandemic, with 80 projects underway by December 2022. The council also set up a research roundtable in February 2020, a month before many countries instigated lockdowns to reduce the spread of the virus.