The federal government warned that it anticipates running out of money to purchase or distribute COVID-19 vaccine doses as early as January next year without funding from Congress and is preparing to offload the bill for vaccine doses, tests, and antivirals to insurers and people.
The Department of Health and Human Services met with over 100 representatives from state and local governments, insurers, pharmacies, and vaccine manufacturers on Tuesday to underscore the need to move up a timeline to transition the COVID-19 response from the federal government to the commercial market as federal funding runs low.
"We are prepared for all scenarios and to maximize access to vaccines and treatments for the American people," O'Connell said."Our goal is to transition procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics from a federally managed system to the commercial marketplace in a thoughtful, well-coordinated manner that leaves no one behind."
O'Connell said that the federal government has already transitioned Bebtelovimab, an antibody treatment, to the commercial marketplace earlier this month and expects to turn over Paxlovid, an antiviral therapy, by mid-2023 as it runs out of the current federal supply.
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