The president commented on the state of the epidemic on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the White House, President Joe Biden received his second booster shot on Wednesday after his scheduled remarks about the state of the country’s cowardly reaction.
Biden’s speech promotes the launch of COVID.gov, a new website the White House is billing as a “one-stop shop” to help Americans gain better access to vaccines, tests, treatments and masks – as well as region-specific updates. Spread.
The website takes users to places where they can get vaccines, boosters and masks, and it connects to other White House websites to order free quick tests at home.
The President further highlighted that the “Test to Treat” initiative he announced at the State of the Union has already spread to more than 2,000 sites nationwide and now Americans can easily find pharmacy and community health through COVID.gov’s new “Test to Treat Locator”. Can Testing for COVID-19 at the centers and receiving treatment if necessary.
Significantly, many of the COVID response efforts available on COVID.gov are the same thing that the White House has said could run out in the coming weeks and months if further funding is not approved.
For weeks, administration officials have been sounding alarm bells about the dire need for more COVID funding, warning of dire consequences for Americans.
Biden on Wednesday called for an “urgent, direct message to Congress” from a White House official seeking immediate action to secure funding for the administration’s cowardly response.
Last week, funding for tests and treatment for uninsured Americans ran out of money, and if they had PCR tests at labs like Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest in the country, people would have to pay about 125 125 out of pocket.
Funding to cover the cost of administering the vaccine to uninsured people will expire next week.
At the same time, the supply of monoclonal antibody treatments distributed to the states per week has been reduced by 35%. And if the funds are not secured, US supplies could be cut off by May.
The government says it has enough tests to go through the summer, but if another wave comes, the country will again be caught in a flat-foot like an omicron wave.
“You’re seeing a gap in door-to-door testing again,” Andrea Pam, deputy secretary of health and human services, told reporters last week.
The White House said without further funding that the “results are terrible” – an official told ABC News earlier this month that “frankly, failure to act now would have serious consequences for the American people.”
The White House has asked for 22 22.5 billion in immediate assistance to keep COVID-19 programs operational. Congress cut that request to $ 15 billion in early March before completely cutting spending bills. Since then, the White House has called on Democrats and Republicans in the mountains to come to an agreement, but talks have stalled.
Justin Gomez of ABC News contributed to this report.