Biden Administration Sounds Alarm Over Congressional Inaction On Covid Funding

The Biden Administration on Wednesday sounded the alarm for the urgent need for Congress to provide funding for the nation’s continued fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March, the President laid out a comprehensive National Covid-19 Preparedness Plan to keep the country moving forward safely, by ensuring that lifesaving tools like vaccines and treatments remain free and widely available to Americans, by preparing for potential surges and new variants, and by getting more shots in arms around the world.

With an uptick in cases in parts of the country, and virus has proven itself to be unpredictable, Congress must act urgently to help save more American lives and ensure the country remains prepared, the White House said in a statement.

It laid out the severe consequences as follows, of Congressional inaction on approving additional Covid-19 response funding.

The Administration cannot secure enough booster shots for every American, if they are needed in the fall, without funding.

The Administration cannot restock the nation’s supply of lifesaving treatments.

The federal government will not be able to invest in next-generation treatments that have the potential to provide broader protection against future variants or to treat people who may not be able to take full advantage of current treatments.

Congressional inaction will put immunocompromised individuals at greater risk.

Due to lack of funding, the Government had to substantially scale back its plans to purchase additional courses of Evusheld, a preventive therapy for immunocompromised people.

The Administration cannot sustain domestic testing manufacturing capacity and will be unprepared for another surge in testing demand.

As Covid cases continues to rise in the United States, 89033 new cases of coronavirus infection and 800 deaths due to the disease were recorded in the country on Wednesday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

In both the Covid metrics, these are the highest daily figures in recent months.

Source: Read Full Article