The Biden administration’s global Covid vaccine aid initiative is at risk as US lawmakers cut funding from a global spending bill enacted by President Joe Biden earlier this week.
The 1.5 trillion bill did not include the 10 to 15.6 billion requested for the Covid response. Of that, 5 billion will be used to combat the coronavirus worldwide, according to the White House.
White House Press Secretary Jane Sackie told Voice of America during a briefing Friday (March 16th) that the administration has no alternative plans to deliver the remaining 800 million doses of the vaccine, up from the promised 1.2 billion doses.
“We need extra funding to fund the vaccine,” he said. “We have no confidential funds with which we would like to continue the kind of free programs that we run in the United States or the level of international assistance that we do not disclose to you.”
A White House official has confirmed that 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine have been purchased. However, the lack of funding will deprive recipient countries of effective vaccination opportunities. In addition, US efforts to provide tests, therapeutic, oxygen and humanitarian assistance to countries fighting the epidemic will be hampered.
The epidemic aid bill is under threat as Republican lawmakers refuse to add new coronavirus spending without cutting spending elsewhere.
Strategy change
Just last month, the administration said it would coordinate global epidemic assistance strategies, reduce vaccine supplies and increase vaccination capacity. They added that the United States would no longer be able to finance Global Wax, an international initiative launched in December.
Humanitarian organizations have criticized the removal of Covid funds from the public bill.
According to Our World in Data, only 14.1 percent of people in low-income countries receive at least one dose.
The United States is by far the world’s largest donor of vaccine aid. Public health officials have called the lack of global epidemic relief funds a “self-inflicted defeat.”
Duke Global Health Innovation Center Founding Director. “The leadership of the United States for a strong and effective global assistance is the best way to build a sustainable health system to prevent epidemics and to better prepare for future health security threats,” said Krishna Udayakumar.
Uday Kumar told Voice of America that “unless we contribute more to the world, the health and economic prosperity of Americans will not be fully protected.”
Earlier, lawmakers agreed to provide ১৩ 13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine before cutting the epidemic, including around 6.5 billion to provide weapons to Kiev, which is fighting Russian aggression, and 6 7.8 billion to provide economic and humanitarian assistance to the country.
