WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senior Biden administration officials have outlined the dire consequences that a lack of Covid-19 response funding will have on the United States if Congress fails to act.
In a teleconference with the media on Tuesday, one of the officials said, 'Our scientific and medical experts have been clear that in the next couple of months, we could see Covid cases increase here in the US just as we're seeing cases rising abroad right now.'
'We are well less prepared without additional funding than we would be otherwise,' he added.
'Further inaction will set us back; leave us unprepared - less prepared; and cost us more lives,' the official warned, laying out some of the immediate concerns.
Without additional funding, the government will not have the adequate resources to purchase enough booster shots for all Americans if an additional shot is needed.
The government is cancelling plans to purchase additional monoclonals next week. Governors are being told that the number of monoclonal antibody treatments to states will be cut by 30 percent starting next week.
Without more funding, the federal government will be forced to scale back on the proposed purchase of additional doses of AstraZeneca's Evusheld, the preventative treatments for immunocompromised people.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, labs, and other healthcare providers will no longer be reimbursed for tests, treatments, and vaccinations for people without health insurance.
The administration officials also warned that without additional funding, USAID will not be able to provide lifesaving supplies, tests, therapeutics, oxygen, and other humanitarian aid to countries still struggling to manage a continued Covid disease burden.
The call came as a standalone bill for $15.6 billion in additional funding to help respond to the Covid-19 pandemic faces dim prospects of passing through the evenly-divided Senate.
The Biden administration says it requires $22.5 billion in emergency immediate funding.
A surge in cases is being reported in many European countries these days.
Daily cases increased by 48 percent in The United Kingdom over the past week.
As a result of critical investments made over the past 14 months using resources that Congress provided on a bipartisan basis, the United States made tremendous progress in the fight against the pandemic.
Cases are down 95 percent since the peak of Omicron. Hospitalizations are down 85 percent. More than 215 million Americans are fully vaccinated and more than 95 million people have received a booster shot.
The United States on Tuesday reported one of the lowest daily number Covid positive cases in recent months - 24,442, reflecting the pace at which the pandemic is subsiding in the country.
With just 1,281 deaths reported on the same day, total U.S. Covid casualties reached 966,470, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
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