The White House said in a statement on Monday (April 10) that President Joe Biden had ratified legislation passed by Congress “ending the national state of emergency related to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
As a result, the considerable funds allocated since 2020 to provide free vaccine testing, and other emergency measures, will no longer be available. This state of emergency had been in place for three years in the country which officially paid the heaviest price for the pandemic, with more than a million deaths.
The separate state of health emergency is due to expire on May 11. Its end should go hand in hand with the expiration of a measure put in place in 2020 under the Trump administration, which allows the immediate deportation of migrants without a visa, even potential asylum seekers.
Funds of at least $5 billion
The US executive had said it wanted to lift this measure known as “Title 42” and replace it with a different legal mechanism to regulate the flow of migrants. A senior White House official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the use of this measure “should cease on May 11”.
While the US government publicly turns the page on the Covid-19 pandemic, it says it is already working on the next generation of vaccines and other measures to combat any future variants of the virus.
“The NextGen project will accelerate and streamline the rapid development of the next generation of vaccines and treatments through public-private partnerships,” a senior government official told AFP. Funds amounting to at least $5 billion (4.60 billion euros) are available to “promote scientific advances”, and “stay ahead of the rapidly evolving virus in origin of Covid-19”.
