“This is not partisan, this is medicine,” Biden said in a White House speech, urging Congress to act “immediately.”
The president said that without the new funding, the US will not be able to maintain its current testing capacity beyond June and will not have enough vaccine stockpiles by the fall to give booster shots to all those who are eligible.
“Worse, if we need another vaccine in the future to fight a new variant, we won’t have enough money to buy it. We can’t let that happen,” Biden said.
Biden said the US is already seeing the impact of dwindling funding, including the government having to reduce purchases of Covid-19 treatments and preventive therapies for the immune-compromised.
Biden said the government had to cancel planned orders for monoclonal antibodies used to treat Covid-19 infections and cut state supplies. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made proteins that can mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off threats like the coronavirus. The president said the government’s stock of monoclonal antibodies will run out by the end of May.
“Americans are living their lives again. We can’t give that up now,” Biden said.
“We are now in a new moment of this pandemic – (it) does not mean that Covid-19 is over. It means that Covid-19 no longer controls our lives,” he added.
After his speech, the President received his second reinforcement shot on camera. The US Food and Drug Administration said Americans age 50 and older who received their first booster shot at least four months ago are eligible for a second booster shot with Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. The President received his first booster shot in September.
The president’s direct plea for more funding comes as the White House is stepping up its warnings that aspects of the federal response to Covid-19 — including programs that provide resources for immunizations — reimburse providers and insurers for off-network treatments and Covid testing and provision of personal protective equipment – restricted due to insufficient funds.
The president also announced Wednesday the launch of COVID.gov, a new website designed to help Americans find and access vaccines, tests, treatments and masks.
Biden highlighted his administration’s new test-to-treat initiative, which will provide Americans with free antiviral drugs for Covid-19 if they test positive for Covid-19 at one of the designated locations. Americans can locate the pharmacies and community health centers participating in the initiative through the government’s new website. The White House says the initiative has so far expanded to more than 2,000 locations across the country.
Discussions have been going on in the White House for several weeks about the possibility of Biden discussing the state of the pandemic, according to a source trusted.
A focal point of discussion was how the President could communicate what the next phase of the pandemic would look like for the country, with those deliberations informed in part by governors and state officials who increasingly began to take action against Covid-19, including easing restrictions and mandates to try to turn the page and return to some normalcy.
The speech comes as the government spent much of the past month warning that the shortage of Covid funds could hamper the federal government’s future response to the pandemic.
The White House has secured funding to vaccinate children under the age of 5 and offer a fourth booster shot to the immunocompromised, according to an administration official. However, measures that go beyond this require additional approval from Congress.
Republican lawmakers have said they will oppose additional funds to fight the pandemic without guaranteed compensation payments, a demand a senior administration official told reporters was disingenuous given previous votes to secure emergency funding under the Trump administration that did not earmarked equalization funding.
But the White House is warning lawmakers that without more aid money, there will not be enough money to subsidize a range of Covid mitigation measures, including programs that provide resources for vaccinations, reimburse providers and insurers for off-network treatment . Carry out Covid tests and provide personal protective equipment.
Last week, White House response coordinator Jeff Zients warned that second Covid-19 booster shots without additional funding are not free and readily available to the public.
“We have ample current inventory of vaccines, both stateside and at pharmacies and other access points across the country, and at our central inventory for fourth doses when requested for our most vulnerable individuals, including seniors, this spring.” , White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said in response to a question from CNN during Wednesday’s briefing.
“If we don’t have adequate doses later in the year, if the science dictates that all Americans should get a booster, or if a new formulation of the vaccine is required, such as a variant-specific vaccine, then we will be undersupplied,” added Zients added and described the situation as “completely unacceptable”.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded emergency use approvals for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, allowing adults age 50 and older to receive a second booster shot of any Covid-19 as early as four months after their first booster dose Vaccination. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added that adults who received Johnson & Johnson’s primary and first booster vaccine at least four months earlier can now receive an additional booster dose of either Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines .
The move extends the availability of additional booster vaccines to healthy older adults. The FDA had previously allowed second booster shots for people 12 years and older with severe immunodeficiency, beginning four months after their first booster shot.
The CDC issued what it calls a permissive recommendation — a statement that the recordings in this age group can be used by those who want them. However, the agency is not expected to officially endorse the recordings.
The president’s update comes as the White House argues that the nation has opened a new chapter in its pandemic response and that Americans are returning to their normal routines.
Earlier this month, the White House unveiled a plan to bring the nation into a new phase of the pandemic in which Covid-19 “does not disrupt our daily lives,” while preparing the nation for any new variants that might emerge.
But congressional funding is key to moving into this new phase, White House officials emphasize.
“We’re out of money,” Zients told CNN on Tuesday. Zients said there would be “immediate consequences” if additional funds were not made available.
The President’s national Covid-19 preparedness plan, which requires new funding, focuses on spending on treatments for Covid-19, preparing for new variants, keeping schools and businesses open, and continuing efforts to vaccinate the nation and communities World.
A key part of the new plan is the new Test to Treat initiative, which the President will discuss on Wednesday. The federal government has ordered 20 million courses of Pfizer’s antiviral pill Paxlovid, which has been shown to significantly reduce hospitalizations and serious illness. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s MJ Lee, Betsy Klein, Donald Judd and Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.