Vaccine.Photo: Getty
The White House says that they’reout of funding to pay for a potential fourth COVID-19 vaccine dosefor all Americans, as the $15 billion spending package remains stalled in Congress.
The Biden administration has already purchased enough doses for Americans over 65 and children under 5, if both groups become eligible for a fourth dose and the start of their vaccination series, respectively, officialstold theWashington Post. But beyond that, they have been unable to secure more doses due to a lack of funding, and risk losing out on them as other countries buy them up.
“Right now, we don’t have enough money for fourth doses, if they’re called for,” White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients told former COVID-19 advisor Andy Slavitt on an upcoming episode of his podcast,In The Bubble With Andy Slavitt,recorded Monday and shared with thePost. “We don’t have the funding, if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future.”
The lack of money is due to Congress eliminating the proposed $15 billionfor the White House’s COVID-19 program— whichsupplies free testing, treatments and vaccinations — in the larger government spending bill that passed two week ago that PresidentJoe Bidensigned into law last Tuesday.
White House officials had urged Congress to include the funding in the spending bill to stay on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularlyas a new wave threatens to hit in the next few weeks. Without the money, senior administration officials saidin a letter to Congressthat they will not be able to buy enough booster shots, new vaccines and antiviral pills, and will run out of funding for monoclonal antibody treatments.
“With cases rising abroad, scientific and medical experts have been clear that in the next couple of months we could see rising cases of COVID-19 here in the United States as well. Waiting to provide funding until we’re in a surge will be too late,” wrote Shalanda Young, the acting director of the Office of Management, along with Zients.
Democrats had said that they would instead work to pass a standalone bill for the COVID-19 program, but that has yet to happen, and Senate Republicans are asking first for detailed accounting of prior spending on COVID-19 packages.
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Currently, only immunocompromised Americans are able to get a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for added protection against the virus. Last week, Moderna and Pfizerrequested approval from the Food and Drug Administrationto begin allowing those 65 and older to get a second booster shot, but that has yet to be decided.
The lack of funding comes ashealth experts warn of a likely surge in U.S. COVID-19 casesas the highly-contagious omicron subvariant BA.2 starts to spread. Young and Zients also warned in their letter to Congress that without this funding, they won’t be able to preparefor future COVID-19 variants.
“We continue to urge Congress to promptly provide the critical funds needed to prevent severe disruptions to our COVID response,” they concluded.
source: people.com
