‘Pandemic is over’ complicates efforts to secure additioal funding

Biden’s claim that ‘pandemic is over’ complicates efforts to secure funding Impromptu remarks on ‘60 Minutes’ come as officials struggle to secure new funding for coronavirus vaccines, tests and treatments Dan Diamond Washington Post

President Biden’s surprise declaration that the coronavirus pandemic is “over” has thrown a wrench into the White House’s efforts to secure additional funding to fight the virus and persuade Americans to get a new booster shot, while fueling more Republican criticism about why the administration continues to extend a covid “emergency.”

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Biden’s comments, which aired Sunday on “60 Minutes,” reflect growing public sentiment that the threat of the virus has receded even as hundreds of Americans continue to die of covid each day. Forty-six percent of Americans have returned to their pre-pandemic lives, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll released last week, the highest share of respondents to answer that way since the pollsters began asking the question in January 2021.

“We still have a problem with covid,” Biden said. “We’re still doing a lot of work on it … but the pandemic is over.”

Biden’s remarks caught some senior officials off guard as the White House mounts a fall vaccination campaign, lobbies Congress for billions of dollars to purchase more coronavirus vaccines and treatments, and weighs whether to extend its ongoing public health emergency when it expires next month. The president’s comments also triggered a sell-off on Wall Street, as vaccine manufacturers Moderna, Novavax, BioNTech and Pfizer collectively lost more than $9 billion in value on Monday.

In interviews, six administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment said the president’s statement would probably make it harder to persuade people to get shots or secure new money from Congress, noting those efforts have already lagged behind their goals. Outside supporters also criticized Biden for ignoring uncomfortable realities, such as the large and growing toll of long covid.

Some officials on Monday sought to add nuance to Biden’s comments, seeking to praise the nation’s progress while acknowledging the ongoing challenges. More than 30,000 people remain hospitalized with covid and more than 400 are still dying each day, according to seven-day averages compiled by The Washington Post.

“Although we are much better off than we were months ago, as the president himself said, we still have a lot of work to do to get it down to a low enough level that we would feel comfortable with it,” Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, said in an interview. “I’m not comfortable with 400 deaths per day.”

Sarah Lovenheim, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, reiterated that the public health emergency “remains in effect” and said the agency would provide a 60-day notice before ending it.

Congressional Republicans on Monday cited Biden’s comments as a reason not to support additional funding or other urgent steps to fight the virus, and pushed the president to explain his policies.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the Senate’s health panel, demanded to know when vaccination requirements for federal workers and contractors would be ended, and more federal staffers directed to return to the office, in a letter sent to Biden and shared with The Post.

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