White House COVID coordinator says funding needed for new vaccines, treatments

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha on Sunday said Congress must pass an additional coronavirus funding package to make new vaccines and treatments available to Americans in the fall.

“Let me be very clear on why we need the money. We’re going to have a new generation of vaccines, my hope is in the fall. There are a lot of really promising treatments coming down the pike. None of those things are going to be available for the American people if Congress does not step up and fund these efforts,” Jha told Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about the funding package.

Congress left for a two-week recess earlier this month without passing a COVID-19 relief package. A bipartisan group of senators announced that they reached a deal on a $10 billion package, but Republicans muddied the waters soon after by calling for a vote on an amendment to reinstate Title 42, a controversial Trump-era immigration policy that the Biden administration recently rescinded.

The order allowed for the expulsion of migrants at the border and blocked them from seeking asylum because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republicans are demanding that a vote be held to keep the policy in place in exchange for moving the COVID-19 funding ahead.

The House also approved a $42 billion bill, mostly along party lines, though it was not clear that there was a path forward in the upper chamber.

Asked by Emanuel on Sunday when he expects a deal on the additional money, Jha said “my hope is as soon as possible.”

“Congress comes back next week. My hope is that they pick this issue up right away and make sure that we get funding to the American people so that we can make sure that treatments, vaccines, tests, all continue to be available for Americans,” he later added.