Washington, DC – Today, the White House released a fact sheet outlining the consequences of lack of funding for efforts to combat COVID-19. In it, they detail what will happen if money runs out in the coming weeks, among them the loss of availability for vaccines and treatments, lack of access to tests, and inability to fund research to prepare for future variants. It’s clear that Congress must act now and provide additional funding to prevent a loss of the tools we need to respond to the pandemic, invest in a return to normalcy, and provide an insurance policy for tomorrow.
In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach released the following statement:
“If Congress fails to provide additional funding, our ability to save lives will be greatly diminished. The consequences of failing to act will be quick and severe. Next week, providers will stop accepting new claims for treating uninsured individuals and shipments of monoclonal antibodies to states will begin to be scaled back. If additional shots are needed, the country will no longer be able to afford enough boosters for all Americans. We will have significantly reduced testing capacity, lack funding to accelerate research into next-generation vaccines, and be unable to expand our efforts to help vaccinate other countries.
“Today, the majority of Americans are vaccinated, boosters are easily obtainable, testing is widespread and convenient, and there are multiple therapeutics to treat COVID. To get here, the Biden administration had to fight not only against the pandemic, but those who spread misinformation for their own political gain. It is time for Republican Members of Congress to stop any partisan games and come together to protect the American people.”