The White House said it is preparing to make cuts to the country’s COVID-19 response effort if Congress doesn’t provide additional funds to deal with the pandemic, warning that the U.S. is running out of money to test, treat and vaccinate Americans against the virus.
As parts of Europe and Asia experience virus spikes and scientists monitor for a similar surge in the U.S., senior administration officials said Tuesday the Health and Human Services Department and the National Institutes of Health won’t be able to research and develop next-generation vaccines that protect against multiple variants without more funds. The officials also said the government needs more money to conduct genomic surveillance of potential new variants and to purchase enough doses for all Americans if a fourth COVID-19 shot is needed.
“Time is not on our side. We need the funding immediately,” one of the senior officials said. The officials can’t be identified under the terms of the call with reporters.
