Ebola blame-game starts in Washington as Democrats claim GOP budget cuts slowed down vaccine research

One of America's top health officials says there would probably already be a vaccine for Ebola if it were not for budget cuts to scientific research, but his own agency has seen a 69 per cent annual budget increase since 2000.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said a lack of money invested in research over the past decade has hampered the production of vaccinations for infectious diseases. And a new television ad claims that budget 'cuts' enacted by Republicans are responsible.

But Collins himself presides over the decision-making on how much NIH funding is devoted to medical research, an insider told MailOnline. And overall funding for the agency is up to $30.15 billion this year – up from $17.84 billion in 2000.

And the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the sub-agency in charge of research to combat potential epidemics, has seen a whopping 220 per cent increase in the same period of time.

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