5 risks if Congress does not pass new COVID-19 funding

COVID-19 cases are rising across the United States, and the country is expected to be hit with a larger wave this fall and winter when the weather turns colder, with as many as 100 million Americans infected.  

The virus has been defanged to a large degree compared to the early days of the pandemic, by vaccines and by new treatments like the highly effective Pfizer pills, called Paxlovid.  

But that is only true if those tools are actually available. With the government running out of money for the COVID-19 response, the Biden administration warns that it will run out of those crucial supplies without more funding.  

And that funding is stalled in Congress, with no clear path forward. 

Republicans have long said they do not see an urgent need for the funding, and have insisted it be paid for with cuts to money from previous COVID-19 relief bills.

Both parties reached a deal in early April on a $10 billion package that would be paid for, a smaller amount than the White House’s $22.5 billion request. But even that amount is now stuck in immigration politics, with Republicans calling for a vote on reversing the lifting of a Trump-era border policy known as Title 42 as part of any deal, which Democrats have so far not agreed to do.  

Here are five risks if the funding does not go forward. 

Not enough vaccines for everyone in the fall  

Pfizer and Moderna are working on new versions of their vaccines that are aimed at working better against the omicron variant, which is currently circulating and spawning new subvariants. Those vaccines are expected to be ready by the fall, at a time when immunity will have waned for many people since their last shots.

But the Biden administration says it will not have enough money to buy those updated vaccines for all Americans if it does not get new funding.  

“Never thought I’d see the day when the United States does not have enough funding for vaccines during a pandemic,” tweeted Topher Spiro, associate director for health at the White House Office of Management and Budget.  

If Congress does not provide new funding, a senior administration official said last week, the administration would have to take all money out of testing, new treatments and vaccine outreach, and even then would only maybe have enough money to buy updated vaccines only for the elderly.  

Orders have to be placed months ahead of time, since other countries are also getting in line to buy the updated vaccines and additional treatments.  

“We have more tools than we’ve ever had,” said Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and a former White House COVID-19 adviser. “All of these things are time limited in the sense that they’re not unlimited in quantity.”

If new orders are not placed ahead of time, he said, “we’ll need to get in line.”

Running out of treatments 

Perhaps the biggest upgrade to the U.S. virus response since vaccines became available was the authorization of the Pfizer treatment pills known as Paxlovid in December 2021.  

If started within five days of…