President Biden signed a GOP-drafted bill signaling the end of the COVID-19 national emergency, and the president will eliminate some vaccine requirements starting Friday, as the World Health Organization declares the end of the global pandemic emergency.
The White House is wrapping up its COVID-19 response team, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the public fitness emergency would end Friday.
“Obviously, we’re in a different position now than we were two and a half years ago when the president took office, right?” White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Tuesday at a briefing with reporters. “Hospitalizations and deaths have decreased by more than 90 percent. And the Secretary made the resolution to end the public fitness emergency because we’re in a much better position. “
So what does this mean for Americans?
COVID-19 vaccines will remain available until the country’s vaccine stocks expire or run out, and Jha said the federal government still has a sufficient supply. Because they qualify as preventative under the Affordable Care Act, vaccines will remain available even to most Americans, Jha said.
Jha says “almost” each and every COVID-19 death is now preventable.
“And that comes from a very transparent knowledge that we’ve observed about other people who are dying, what is their prestige of vaccination, what is their prestige of remedy,” Jha said. “And from a kind of large-scale cohort knowledge that shows that if you’re up-to-date on your vaccines and you’re getting treatment, the number of deaths is incredibly low in the population. “
A White House official said the U. S. it still has a giant source of Paxlovid, the antiviral that has proven effective in preventing serious illness and death in high-risk patients. Eventually, patients will pay for the drug through their insurance as Medicare Part D. drug. Much of the valuable negotiations will be between Health and Social Services and Paxlovid’s maker, Pfizer.
The federal government and contractors will no longer want to get vaccinated against the virus or download an approved exemption. The president issued an executive order Tuesday ending the requirement to vaccinate people starting May 12, stating, “We no longer want a government-wide vaccination requirement. “for federal personnel or federally specified protection protocols for federal contractors. “
The president issued an executive order Tuesday ending the requirement to vaccinate travelers to the United States. That order also went into effect Thursday.
“Given the progress we have made and based on the most recent direction from our public fitness experts, I have decided that we no longer want the foreign air restrictions I imposed in October 2021,” Biden said in his executive order. .
Jha said the Centers for Disease Control will continue to track emerging variants. The COVID-19 coordinator said the virus continues to evolve at the speed it had before. At present, Jha said most of the cases are the XBB variant of Omicron. However, the federal government is heavily scouring all regions of the world for new strains.
Jha has specified his long-term plans as the White House COVID-19 team comes to an end. He remains the COVID-19 coordinator, he said.
“I’m here, and when I have something to announce about my long-term plans, I’ll be happy to share it,” Jha said.
All this progress does not mean that COVID-19 will go away. He is here to stay, says Jha. very low.
“I don’t know anyone who thinks we’re going to eliminate COVID, do we?” said Jha. “COVID will be with us. Our ability to handle COVID continues to improve. It’s bigger today than it was 18 months ago. ” It was higher 18 months ago than it was 3 years ago. Part of the explanation for why we continue to make investments is that we need to make certain advances continue. “
“I think about my parents who are over 80 — they keep up with their vaccinations, they contracted COVID and they were treated with Paxlovic,” Jha said. he is receiving treatment, his threat of prolonged COVID is very low. It is not zero, but it is very low. People will have to do their own individual threat assessment, but at the end of the day, we’re at a point where the things other people value are largely safe. “
Jha said “I have no doubt” that the United States is “much better prepared” than before for a long-term pandemic situation.
“But obviously, for long-term preparedness, we also want resources,” Jha said. “That’s why we want a partnership with Congress here, because you can’t be prepared for ongoing threats without resources, so congressional action here is very critical. “. “