The White House will redirect more than half-a-billion dollars from its cache of Ebola funds to address the emerging Zika threat because the mosquito-borne virus is likely to soon make its way to the United States.
Advertisement
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals that neither person still has sympsoms, and the virus was confirmed after they had already recovered.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said recent Ebola flare-ups in Guinea and Liberia, where more than 1,000 contacts are now under monitoring and a ring vaccination strategy has been deployed, underscore the point that the U.S. role in the Ebola response isn’t over. The administration has requested funding for mosquito control, research into diagnostic tests and vaccines.
But that alone is “insufficient” to fully combat Zika, Earnest said, noting that it is a “temporary fix” until Congress acts on the looming health crisis.
Yesterday’s move came after the Republican-controlled Congress has not moved on the request of US President Barack Obama to provide it with United States dollars 1.9 billion for activities that scientists and experts say are critically important to combating Zika.
“We face two real global health challenges, and we don’t have the option to set one aside in the name of the other”, she said. “The vector has been found in cities as far north as San Francisco, Kansas City, and NY”, she said, noting that the number of cases in the US and its territories overall totaled 672 as of April 1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also won’t be able to fund state grants for emergency preparedness efforts, among other things.
The issue has taken on more urgency for US officials as mosquito season draws near. “We submitted our emergency request to Congress in February, but Congress has yet to act”, Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on a conference call.
About 40 million people traveling between the continental US and Zika-affected countries.
Administration officials, speaking during a telephone news briefing Wednesday, said the money would help fund research into vaccines, Zika-specific diagnostics and aid state efforts to conduct surveillance for the emerging pathogen.
For months now, Americans who have been traveling or reading news reports have heard about the risk posed by the Zika virus, particularly those posed to pregnant women. The agency advises that the best way to prevent acquiring the disease is for people to protect against mosquitoes using repellants such as DEET, and for men who have contracted the disease to abstain from sex or use a condom.
Advertisement
Republicans had suggested the administration consider reshuffling existing funds and have said they are open to paying the money back in future legislation if it’s needed for Ebola or some other purposes. Updates concerning the virus are sent to local primary care providers, so obstetricians and doctors can talk to pregnant women or women who are trying to become pregnant, about the dangers of Zika.
