March 2, 2022 — In his first State of the Union handle on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden urged Americans to not let their guard down towards COVID-19 and pledged to make extra exams and coverings accessible. On Wednesday, his workforce unveiled plans to get began.

The new National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, which officers mentioned would require motion from Congress – focuses on protecting companies and colleges open, enhancing entry to testing and remedy, and stopping future public well being crises.

“By protecting against and treating covid, preparing for any new variants, preventing economic and school shutdowns, and vaccinating the world and saving lives, the president’s COVID-19 Preparedness Plan will enable us to move forward safely to get back to our more normal routines,” mentioned White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients at a Wednesday briefing.

Zients elaborated on the “test to treat” initiative the president talked about throughout his State of the Union handle on Tuesday, which might increase entry to antiviral drugs and different COVID-19 therapies.

This month, a whole bunch of one-stop websites will open throughout the nation that may permit individuals to obtain remedy for COVID-19 instantly after testing optimistic, Zients mentioned. Locations will embody native pharmacy clinics, group well being facilities, long-term care services, and veterans’ well being services.

Congressional leaders have already been briefed on the necessity for near-term funding to safe extra vaccines, antivirals therapies, and continued vaccines analysis, the White House mentioned. The quantity wanted was not disclosed.

Top infectious illness knowledgeable Anthony S. Fauci, MD, mentioned the plan’s deal with vaccine analysis and growth would assist to make sure that any “updated vaccines can be developed, approved and manufactured in approximately 100 days.”

Along with increasing entry to viral therapies and exams, Biden’s new plan would handle lengthy COVID and psychological well being by directing the federal authorities to speed up its efforts to detect, forestall and deal with these points.

Zients known as the president’s plan “robust and comprehensive,” however famous, “the execution of the plan requires additional funding from Congress.”

Some 950,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, however Biden didn’t point out the pandemic once more till 36 minutes into his speech. He first addressed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation, and the infrastructure legislation.

Later, Biden revealed a brand new “test to treat” program by which individuals who check optimistic for coronavirus at a pharmacy can be supplied Pfizer’s antiviral Paxlovid at no cost, “on the spot.” The tablet reduces the prospect of hospitalization by 90%, the president mentioned. Pfizer will present the U.S. authorities with 1 million drugs in March and greater than 2 million in April.

What’s extra, beginning the week of March 7, a brand new batch of COVID-19 exams can be made accessible for Americans to order for dwelling supply by means of COVIDtests.gov. The president additionally famous that he plans to ask Congress for more cash to maintain funding free vaccines, exams, masks, and coverings.

Last 12 months, the president didn’t give a standard State of the Union, as a substitute making an handle to a joint session of Congress virtually 100 days after he took workplace. The viewers was restricted as a result of COVID-related social distancing restrictions.

For this 12 months’s handle, attendees have been required to take a COVID-19 check earlier than getting into the House of Representatives chambers. But given the brand new CDC steering issued Feb. 25 that relaxed masks guidelines, the 535 members of Congress, visitors, and dignitaries who have been invited to this 12 months’s occasion weren’t required to put on masks.

But some Republicans refused to attend over the COVID testing requirement.

“I’m NOT permitted on the House floor tonight despite the fact that the 17th District of Florida voted me to represent them in the People’s House because I didn’t go through all of Dictator Pelosi’s medical protocol and COVID testing,” Florida Rep. Greg Steube mentioned in a tweet.

Meanwhile, “I’m wearing a mask tonight at the #SOTU because we all need to remember that the immunocompromised and those over 60 remain at higher risk of severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19,” Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts mentioned on Twitter.

Divisions over COVID-related restrictions and COVID vaccines are additionally obvious in polling. While 62% of adults in a Kaiser Family Foundation ballot mentioned they suppose the worst of the pandemic “is behind us,” extra Democrats and independents than Republicans mentioned that lifting restrictions might improve the variety of deaths and go away immune-compromised individuals behind.

Biden indicated that he would proceed to elevate extra restrictions, saying it’s “time for Americans to get back to work” and “our kids need to be in school.”

He additionally urged Americans to “stop looking at COVID-19 as a partisan dividing line and see it for what it is: A God-awful disease.”

“Let’s stop seeing each other as enemies and start seeing each other for who we really are: fellow Americans,” the president mentioned.

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March 2, 2022 – Beyond COVID-19, President Joe Biden on Tuesday hit on a number of different well being care priorities in his first State of the Union, together with a warning that the administration would scrutinize personal investor possession of nursing properties and that Medicare was going to “set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and expect.”

Biden, in his deal with to a joint session of Congress, additionally pledged to guard entry to well being care, to protect a “woman’s right to choose,” to advance maternal well being care, and to guard youthful transgender Americans, calling a spate of state legal guidelines concentrating on them “wrong.”

The president additionally stated he was doubling down on the Cancer Moonshot program’s promise “to end cancer as we know it,” asking Congress to fund his proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which might be tasked with discovering breakthroughs associated to most cancers, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and different ailments.

What’s extra, Biden stated he plans to behave to “get rid of outdated rules that stop doctors from prescribing treatments” for opioid habit.

“I believe in recovery, and I celebrate the 23 million Americans in recovery,” he stated.

The State of the Union deal with got here after the administration earlier within the day introduced a brand new effort to enhance Americans’ psychological well being, and stated the White House would work with Congress to broaden telehealth and combine psychological well being with major care. Biden’s fiscal 2023 finances, which might take impact Oct. 1, will double funding for major and behavioral well being integration applications.

Acknowledging State of the Union visitor Frances Haugen, a former Facebook worker who uncovered the corporate’s algorithms concentrating on youngsters, Biden stated, “We must hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.”

“It’s time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children,” he stated.

In response to this a part of the president’s deal with, American Academy of Pediatrics President Moira Szilagyi, MD, stated in a press release that the group was joyful the administration was proposing to “protect the digital privacy and well-being of children and adolescents.”

Last fall, the AAP made a nationwide emergency declaration on youngsters’s psychological well being as a result of the pandemic worsened psychological well being points. Szilagyi stated the AAP “welcomes tonight’s recognition of children’s mental health as a national priority and looks forward to what comes next.”

The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association additionally applauded Biden’s psychological well being proposals, particularly for elevating youngsters’s wants.

“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on mental health, especially for school-aged children and for communities that have been historically marginalized or minoritized,” AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, MD, stated in a press release.

But the star of the night gave the impression to be Joshua Davis, a seventh grader with sort 1 diabetes who beamed from the primary girl’s field as Biden spoke.

“For Joshua, and for the 200,000 other young people with type 1 diabetes, let’s cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month so everyone can afford it,” the president stated through the deal with.

“Drug companies will still do very well,” he stated, noting that Medicare ought to be allowed to barter decrease costs for prescribed drugs.

The insulin cap proposal — just for these with personal insurance coverage — is contained in Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which has been stymied within the Senate.

The Endocrine Society praised Biden for saying he’ll tackle drug prices, significantly insulin.

In a press release, the society famous that greater than 37 million Americans have diabetes, with 3 million beginning on insulin inside a 12 months of being recognized.

Those with sort 1 depend on insulin to outlive, the society stated.

“We urge Congress to come together and pass legislation to make insulin affordable as soon as possible,” stated the assertion.

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