U.S. plans to move COVID vaccines, treatments to private markets in 2023
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[August 31, 2022]
By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government
expects its supply of COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral treatments to run
out over the next year and is preparing for them to be sold via the
commercial market, the Department of Health and Human Services said on
Tuesday.
President Joe Biden's administration expects to run out of federal
funding for buying and distributing COVID-19 vaccines by January,
although it has already bought over 170 million doses for a booster
campaign later this year, according to a blog post written by Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O'Connell.
The administration has procured enough of Pfizer's antiviral treatment
Paxlovid to supply the pills until mid-2023, O'Connell said, but other
therapeutics made by Merck & Co and AstraZeneca are likely to be sold on
the commercial market sooner.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Aug/31/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
"Our goal is to transition procurement and distribution of COVID-19
vaccines and therapeutics from a federally managed system to the
commercial marketplace in a thoughtful, well-coordinated manner that
leaves no one behind," she wrote following a meeting with private sector
representatives.
Based on current projections, O'Connell said, the supply of
AstraZeneca's preventative treatment Evusheld will run out in early
2023, followed by Merck's antiviral pill Lagevrio (molnupiravir) in the
first or second quarter.
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![](../images/083122PIX/health21.jpg)
Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine labels are seen in this
illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Aug/31/images/ads/current/graue_21BLAZER_081621.png) The lack of additional Congressional
funding means supplies will run out earlier than expected, O'Connell
said.
"We have always intended to transition this work to the commercial
market and have been planning for that transition for some time
now," she said. "Unfortunately, the timeline to make the transition
has accelerated over the past six months without additional funds
from Congress to support this work," she said.
Funding is still needed for developing new vaccines, treatments and
tests, as well as to manage the transition, she added.
The government also cited a lack of funding on Monday, when it said
Americans would no longer be able to order free at-home COVID tests
from its COVIDTests.gov website starting next week.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Michael
Erman and Bill Berkrot)
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