White House Sees Covid Treatments Running Out If No New Funding

(Bloomberg) --

The U.S. will run out of Covid-19 treatments in the coming months without new funding from Congress, the White House warned on Friday. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's comments follow a request by President Joe Biden's administration for $22.5 billion in emergency funds for the coronavirus response. 

Without it, the U.S. will run out of monoclonal antibody treatments by May and out of antiviral pills by September, she said. Testing capacity would also soon slow, she said.

“We need additional funding from Congress to secure more medical supplies to keep this country moving forward,” Psaki said. “And let me be very clear: This is an urgent request, and this is what is at stake in our fight against Covid.”

U.S. Covid cases are falling, with the seven-day average of new infections falling to less than 50,000 this week for the first time since July, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.

Biden has responded by encouraging Americans to shed their masks in most areas and return to downtowns and a more normal life, citing available treatments as a fallback in case cases spike once again.

Monoclonal antibodies and antiviral pills, which are given to people who already have Covid, are a big part of the so-called “medicine cabinet” of treatments the administration has pointed to.

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