Local Voices
Lack of Government Funding for Fighting COVID Means Trouble
No federal money puts our recovery from COVID at risk.
On March 15 President Biden signed into law a $1.5 Trillion bill to find government through September. Unfortunately, it did not contain funding to continue the fight against COVID.
The dire consequences include:
On March 22, The Health Resources and Services Administration stopped accepting providers claims for COVID 19 testing and treatment of the uninsured.
Find out what's happening in East Meadowfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
On or about April 5 the fund will have to stop accepting new claims for vaccine services.
In addition, the federal government is cutting back shipments of monoclonal antibody treatments to the states by 30%. The government will not be purchasing additional supplies of these treatments. This all means that the supply of these treatments could run out by May. Also scaled back was a plan to purchase more doses of Astra Zenca’s prevention therapies for immune comprised people. These supplies could run out by the fall.
Find out what's happening in East Meadowfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
There are enough vaccines for a fourth dose for vulnerable Americans, however there will be a lack of supply if a fourth dose is recommended for the general population.
Lack of funding will also hamper development of a new variant specific vaccine. It also prevents the US from sending vaccine overseas, thus increasing the risks of a new variant that could emerge and affect America.
As of March 31, the Senate has reached a tentative deal on funding for an additional $10 billion but it is far less than the $22.5 billion the White House requested.
COVID burnout is a real threat to our recovery. COVID is here to stay, and we must live with it. Living with it means being prepared for another resurgence with all the tools we have including vaccines, treatments and the ongoing research that got us this far. These tools are necessary to keep our workers safe, to get our production lines going and keeping our schools open.
Congress needs to restore money to the budget to keep the fight going. As soon as possible, contact your senators and representative and have them restore COVID money before they leave for the April 9th recess.
