The Pandemic Is Coming for Your Pocketbook

The U.S. is on the verge of taking a significant step backwards in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the rollout of the new bivalent boosters this winter, the government is due to run out of funds for vaccines and therapeutics. President Joe Biden’s administration has been shuffling money from other pockets to pay for the new shots after Congress failed to pass a pandemic budget request earlier this summer. The government will soon run out of options. This will result in a significant shift in how we fight the pandemic—what is being referred to as “commercialization.” The public has yet to wrap their minds around the implications, and while it seems unlikely that we’ll avoid this fate, there are strategies to lessen the worst potential impacts.

is a rather bland-sounding term that means that COVID treatments and vaccines would be handled just like everything else in our health-care system. Instead of no-cost access to vaccines and therapies, drug