As Pfizer and Moderna seek FDA authorization for a fourth coronavirus vaccine shot, the Biden administration is warning that is does not have enough money to purchase enough doses for everyone in the country.
The White House has secured enough doses to cover a fourth shot for Americans age 65 and older and children under age 5, in the event another dose is added to the recommended vaccination series, The Washington Post reported. But as for the other age groups, officials have been unable to secure more doses.
"Right now, we don't have enough money for fourth doses, if they're called for," White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said on a upcoming episode of "In The Bubble With Andy Slavitt," which was previewed by The Post. "We don't have the funding, if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future."
The lack of funding comes as Congress stalls on a $15 billion COVID-19 emergency spending bill. Zients previously said there would be "severe consequences" if Congress failed to pass supplemental COVID funding, CNN reported.
"We requested Congress to provide these funds as emergency resources without requiring cuts elsewhere to offset them that would jeopardize them moving forward -- as lawmakers have done multiple times on a bipartisan basis under the prior administration," he said. "I want to be very clear: Additional funds are necessary in the very near future to avoid disruptions to ongoing COVID response efforts."
The government would need to purchase about 750 million doses to be able to provide a fourth dose to everyone, Fortune reported.
Pfizer and Moderna have both asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve a fourth round of their mRNA vaccines as a booster for all adults. Currently, a single booster dose of the mRNA vaccine is authorized for emergency use on top of the original two-dose regimen.
It's not clear how long a decision would take or which way the FDA was initially leaning. Moderna said its request for approval was made "to provide flexibility" to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical providers to determine the "appropriate use" of a second booster dose, USA Today reported.
As of Monday, roughly 96.7 million people in the U.S. were fully vaccinated and had received a booster dose, according to the CDC. Of those who are eligible to receive a booster shot, 49.9% have not yet rolled up their sleeve, the CDC said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned that the U.S. could soon see an uptick in coronavirus cases, fueled by an Omicron subvariant known as BA.2. The subvariant is as much as 60% more contagious than the original Omicron variant, Fauci said, and currently accounts for about 30% of the country's new cases.
"Ultimately, over time, it might take over as the dominant variant," Fauci told ABC News. "This virus has fooled us before, and we really must be prepared for the possibility that we might get another variant and we don't want to be caught flatfooted on that."
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