Matt Wellington
Former Director, Public Health Campaigns, PIRG
Statement: U.S. PIRG applauds President-elect Biden’s COVID-19 funding requests
Media Contacts
Investments would provide a much needed boost to combat the virus
U.S. PIRG
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden is expected to announce this evening a request for billions of dollars in spending to kickstart the nation’s federal COVID-19 response efforts. The requests will include $20 billion for a national vaccination program, $30 billion to boost supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) and $50 billion to ramp up testing infrastructure.
Matthew Wellington, U.S. PIRG’s public health campaigns director, released the following statement:
“All across the country, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths jumped in the last two weeks. Before long, it looks like we’re going to lose 400,000 Americans to this deadly virus.
“Our nation’s Achilles’ heel when it comes to our COVID-19 response has always been a severe lack of federal funding and coordination. We saw this happen with testing infrastructure and personal protective equipment shortfalls, and now it’s the same story on vaccine distribution. President-elect Biden’s funding requests are the public health investments we need to tackle this virus.
“We’re calling on Congress to swiftly approve President-elect Biden’s funding requests for increased testing, PPE and vaccination. Doing so will save lives and help us overcome this crisis.”
