Millions of Americans risk losing access to life-saving Covid-19 treatments that were previously given for free if Congress fails to approve more pandemic funding, Joe Biden’s coronavirus tsar has warned.
Ashish Jha, who runs the US pandemic response, told the Financial Times that lives were at risk if the money is not released soon, with members expected to vote on a wider bill to fund the government in the coming weeks.
The White House has been pushing members for months to approve tens of billions of dollars in additional funding to continue fighting the pandemic even as it enters a less acute phase. The money would be spent on buying new vaccines, protective equipment and treatments such as Pfizer’s antiviral pill and the monoclonal antibody drugs made by AstraZeneca.