Biden spends billions on unpopular COVID boosters

There are few rivals to the Biden administration when it comes to fiscal waste. Team Biden repurposed billions of dollars earlier in the year to purchase 170 million doses of the new bivalent COVID-19 vaccination. The issue is that few individuals are receiving vaccinations.

In the three months after its approval, just 35 million people, or around 11% of the population and 15% of the 227 million people who have finished the primary vaccination series and are eligible for the new booster, have received it, according to the CDC.

In lieu of evaluating why the reaction has been so inadequate, the government has resorted to its standard solution: spending more money. Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, has now declared a “six-week sprint” to urge Americans to have their updated vaccinations.

The White House information sheet for the new campaign indicates that this is already the case. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken efforts this month to increase the availability of updated COVID-19 immunizations to even more sites. Currently, over 70,000 locations provide the updated vaccines.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration repurposed billions of dollars to purchase 170 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Getty Pictures

Evidently, this is insufficient. The administration says it will divert an additional $475 million from the Provider Relief Fund, which is intended to preserve the healthcare system by providing financial support to providers who experienced lost revenues and increased expenses during the pandemic, to increase bivalent booster uptake. $350 million will be “invested” (this administration never pays) in community health clinics to increase booster awareness and immunization programs. An additional $125 million would be allocated “to national organizations serving individuals with disabilities and older adults to assist community immunization programs and initiatives”

“Can’t Wait” is the name of a sponsored marketing campaign that will target Americans aged 50 and over and those with chronic diseases.

Who are the recipients of this generosity? To expand vaccines, the same groups have previously been generously financed. Exists any reason to believe that these fresh initiatives will be more effective than their predecessors?

In October, President Biden received a new COVID-19 booster dose.
Getty Pictures

Through private groups and HHS’s long-running “We Can Do This” COVID-19 public vaccine education campaign focused at increasing immunization rates, the government has been attempting for months to improve booster awareness and uptake.

A person would have to have been living under a rock for the previous three years in order to have been unaware of the epidemic, immunizations, and now boosters. This is not a public relations issue. It’s a demand issue.

People will not be immunized against a disease they believe poses minimal risk. New COVID cases, ER visits for COVID, and COVID hospitalizations reached a high three months ago and have subsequently decreased. The COVID mortality rate peaked in early February, fell swiftly, and has been low and constant since May.

The Biden administration has spent months attempting to promote booster awareness and participation.
AP

Surprisingly, the number of vaccinations provided has returned to the low levels of the previous nine months despite a slight and temporary spike in early September following the approval of the bivalent booster vaccine. Mid-December 2021, coinciding with the Omicron outbreak, was the last time vaccination rates were elevated.

Demand has also been hampered by the fact that vaccinations are ineffective at preventing the spread of the most recent virus strains. The Washington Post has proclaimed that “Covid is no longer primarily a Pandemic of the Unvaccinated” due to the prevalence of breakthrough infections, some of which are fatal.

The administration argues it “was compelled to reprioritize resources owing to a lack of money from Congress” needed to “raise immunization levels in anticipation of a possible winter COVID outbreak.” This spike has not yet manifested, and it is doubtful that demand for the new boosters will grow until it does.

Spending more money is not the solution to every problem, as the Biden administration obviously believes. The government has already squandered billions on millions of booster doses that are unlikely to ever be administered. It should not waste additional good money on poor investments.

Joel Zinberg is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the head of the Public Health and American Well-Being Initiative at the Paragon Health Institute.

»Biden spends billions on unpopular COVID boosters«

Related Posts

The Bitter End: The Untangling of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning

Emir of Kano Urges President-elect Tinubu to Promote Interfaith Dialogue for Peaceful Coexistence

Pregnant Woman Arrested for Stabbing Domestic Help Over Unwashed Bag in Lagos

Leave a Reply Cancel reply