On Friday, the Biden administration told Congress it needs at least $5 billion more to end the COVID-19 pandemic overseas. Those funds would include $2.55 billion for vaccinating populations around the world, $1.7 billion for therapeutics and supplies, and $750 million for humanitarian aid.

That proposal to spend $5 billion on overseas efforts is far more modest than the proposal advanced earlier this month by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) which was for $19 billion just for 2022.

The administration began discussing the $5 billion in spending on efforts abroad just two days after it began gauging whether Congress would support $30 billion in spending for its domestic efforts. (See Whitehouse’s “six-pronged… path out of the pandemic”.) States and cities have been lifting COVID-19 restrictions and the economy is growing rapidly; accordingly, congressmen, such as Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), have signaled hesitance to approve further federal funding.

The wave of Omicron infections, said HSS Secretary Xavier Becerra, wiped out the administration’s reserves. The $30-billion proposal, according to an aide to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), includes approximately $18 billion for Covid treatments and vaccines, $5 billion for testing, $3 billion to cover care for the uninsured, $3.7 billion to develop vaccines to protect against future variants, and $500 million for CDC surveillance.

Funding earmarked for developing vaccines against future variants and for treating the ill, could mean new funding opportunities for biotech R&D. US federal funding agencies, like HHS, have not discussed specific funding opportunities yet.

Such funding opportunities would be in addition to opportunities already announced, for example, by NIAID in its January BAA, which provides $46.8 million for R&D on vaccines, therapeutics, antivirals, and in-vitro diagnostics (download the funding announcement and view our webinar about it there.)

If you would like to explore how FreeMind may be able to help you apply for US federal grants and contracts and fund your research without diluting your equity, contact our Director of Marketing Meir Panzer at meir@freemindconsultants.com.