Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
Washington (December 2, 2021) – Today, the bicameral Global Vaccination Caucus—U.S. Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.); Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn); and U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)—released the following joint statement:
“Since President Biden submitted his initial Fiscal Year 2022 budget request in May, the United States has made significant strides in our COVID-19 vaccination campaign domestically, while much of the rest of the developing world has struggled to vaccinate its populations and has been devastated by the emergence of a highly contagious Delta variant. With the onset of a new potentially dangerous variant, and the possible emergence of future variants, we urge the White House and Congress to work together to supplement previous appropriations for global COVID-19 vaccine access in the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Omnibus at a level truly commensurate with the scale of this pandemic crisis. This includes financing the swift end-to-end delivery of the millions of doses the United States has procured but that have yet to be distributed across the globe.
“This virus has battered economies, devastated health systems, and killed over 5.2 million people worldwide. We must respond at the scale necessary by investing in the global vaccinations that are essential to turn the corner on the pandemic.”
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