US plans to outsource Covid vaccines and treatments to private sector by 2023 – News

By Ahmed Abuleen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government expects to run out of vaccines and antiviral treatments for Covid-19 next year and is preparing to sell them off to the private sector, the Department of Health and Human Services said. In this Mars country.

President Joe Biden’s administration expects to freeze federal funding for the purchase and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines by January, though it has already purchased more than 170 million doses for a booster campaign later this year, according to a blog written by the health department. Dan O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

The government was able to secure enough supplies of Pfizer’s antiviral treatment Paxlovid to supply the pills by mid-2023, O’Connell said, but other treatments made by Merck Sharp and Dohme and AstraZeneca will soon be sold on the commercial market. And then that.

“Our goal is to move the procurement and distribution of vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 from a federally managed system to the commercial market in a thoughtful and well-coordinated manner so that no one is left behind,” he wrote after a meeting. Representatives of the private sector.

O’Connell said that based on current projections, supply of AstraZeneca’s Evshelt prophylaxis would run out in early 2023, followed by Merck’s antiviral pill Lacavrio (molnupiravir) in the first or second trimester.

Without additional congressional funding, O’Connell said the inventory will run out sooner than expected.