As Congress considers how to provide billions of dollars in additional coronavirus funding, the Biden administration is warning that it doesn’t have the money to buy another round of Covid vaccines for all Americans if needed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Tuesday that he is exploring possible ways to cover the cost of additional pandemic funding with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and other Republicans. "We are trying to get COVID relief. I'm working with Senator Romney and other Republicans in good faith to find some pay-fors that are acceptable to Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate. We hope to get it done," Schumer told reporters.
Congressional leaders had agreed earlier this month to include $15.6 billion for vaccines, treatments and testing as part of a $1.5 trillion omnibus annual spending package, but they were forced to drop the measure from the larger package after a number of Democrats objected to the planned repurposing of relief money previously allocated to states. That shifting of funds was part of a compromise worked out by negotiators in response to GOP demands that any pandemic aid be fully offset.
The new round of Covid money has been stalled since then, despite Biden administration warnings that a lack of funds could seriously hamper pandemic preparedness. Several top Republicans are calling for a more detailed accounting of previous funding and supply levels. Democrats need the support of at least 10 Republican senators to advance any new funding plan through the Senate.
“There's plenty of unspent money. It's a question of priorities," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday. "The money is there. It should be reprogrammed. That's the way forward.”
As talks continue in Congress — and with a new version of the omicron variant of the virus now causing a surge of cases in Europe — White House officials say that the administration lacks the fund to buy another round of Covid vaccine shots for the entire population.
“Right now, we don’t have enough money for fourth doses, if they’re called for,” White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said Monday on the podcast “In The Bubble With Andy Slavitt,” The Washington Post reports. “We don’t have the funding, if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future.”
The federal government has enough doses to cover a fourth shot for seniors and initial doses for children under age 5, if approved by regulators, the Post says, citing administration officials. An analysis by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation reportedly determined that the administration would need to buy about 750 million more vaccine doses to ensure that every American could get a fourth shot if needed. But the administration says it cannot plane new orders to cover other age groups without more funding, leaving open the possibility that other countries could move ahead of the United States.
Officials also warn that, without new funding to ensure production of Covid-19 tests continues, the country could again face a shortage of tests as manufacturers cut their output in the face of declining demand. “If we get to a point where companies really are turning off lines or laying off people — are not making investments in the Covid test market — and we have another surge, then we will not be ready to go,” Tom Inglesby, White House senior adviser for Covid response, told Politico. “We will be in a situation that is potentially much worse than what we had with Omicron.”
The bottom line: Experts warn that the country may be repeating mistakes from earlier in the pandemic by not preparing for another potential wave of infections ahead of time. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told Politico that as the country dials back on measures like mask mandates it needs to stay vigilant in tracking of new Covid variants and outbreaks. “I am much more worried about our surveillance than I’ve ever been,” Nuzzo said. “We’re at this point where the numbers get smaller, you need a brighter light to shine to spot problems before they become huge.”
