Biden Administration is investing over $ 1.6 billion in increasing Covid testing and sequencing

The Inglewood, California forum began distributing vaccinations that served as both a COVID-19 vaccination site and a COVID-19 test site.

Al Seib | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The Biden government announced on Wednesday that it will invest more than $ 1.6 billion to increase testing availability for Covid-19, expand testing programs in schools and elsewhere, and advance genome sequencing in the United States.

“We have to test broadly and quickly to turn the tide against this pandemic,” said Carole Johnson, the White House’s Covid-19 test coordinator, at a press conference. “But we still don’t have enough tests and we don’t have enough tests in all the places we need to be.”

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense will invest $ 650 million to expand testing in K-8 schools and “underserved congregation environments like homeless shelters,” the White House said. HHS said it will set up regional coordination centers to organize the distribution of the test materials and work with laboratories across the country, including universities and commercial laboratories, to conduct tests.

Johnson said the idea is to balance underutilized lab capacity with demand for testing to safely reopen schools and protect residents of underserved communities. It is unclear how such settings are determined.

“These are places that typically don’t have the resources or bandwidth to partner with academic or commercial testing labs, and that’s where the government can act as an intermediary,” said Johnson.

HHS and DOD will also invest $ 815 million to increase domestic manufacturing of testing supplies and raw materials that have created shortages.

“Our nation is facing a shortage of critical supplies and raw materials, including pipette tips, a specialty paper used for antigen testing, and the special molded plastics needed to house test reagents,” said Johnson.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will invest an additional $ 200 million in their genome sequencing efforts to track new variants of the coronavirus in the United States. The CDC will increase its sequencing efforts from 7,000 samples per week to about 25,000 per week, the White House said.

“As a result, we will identify variants of Covid earlier and better target our efforts to stop the spread,” said Johnson. “We use targeted resources here quickly, as time is of crucial importance for these fast-moving variants.”

Johnson said the funding was meant to increase testing in the short term, but urged Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion aid package, known as the American Rescue Plan, and $ 50 billion Includes US dollars for testing.

“As part of the President’s National Strategy to Combat COVID-19, we will use all resources available to ensure that more individuals and families have access to testing options at this unprecedented time and that our nation is ready to curb the spread of possible action and to prevent.” Variants, “HHS Secretary Norris Cochran said in a statement.

Jeff Zients, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator, said at the news conference on Wednesday that the US is “under” insufficient capacity for diagnostic screening and genomic sequencing. In order to safely reopen shops and schools, widespread and accessible tests are important.

“We need to make significant investments to speed up testing across the country,” he said. “We are using the resources available to test programs and make progress. Make no mistake, though. We need the American rescue plan to double testing capacity, encourage innovation, and reduce the cost per test.”