HHS Distributes $22B to States for COVID-19 Testing, Vaccinations

HHS recently announced that it will provide more than $22 billion in funding to states, localities, and territories to support COVID-19 testing and vaccination. 

Over $19 billion of the funding, which is being distributed through the CDC Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) cooperative agreement, will support testing, contact tracing, surveillance, containment, and mitigation to monitor and decrease the spread of COVID-19. 

The remaining $3 million will be made available in an initial award to jurisdictions through the existing CDC Immunization and Vaccines for Children cooperative agreement and will support various COVID-19 vaccination activities. 

All funding will be allocated to 64 jurisdictions, including all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five major cities, and US territories and islands.

"On top of the substantial support we've already provided, the funding bill signed by President Trump in December has billions of dollars in new funding for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations," HHS Secretary Alex Azar, said in the announcement.

"We're making these billions in new funds available to states as quickly as possible to support our combined efforts to end the pandemic,” Azar continued. 

So far, the US has shipped over 24.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including nearly 12 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and approximately 12.1 million doses of Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. 

The states with the highest COVID-19 vaccine rollout so far include Vermont, Nebraska, North Carolina, and South Carolina. These states will receive $35.9 million, $111.3 million, $43.8 million, and $50,.9 million in HHS funding for COVID-19 testing, respectively.  

California, Florida, and Texas will receive the most HHS funding for COVID-19 testing overall. Specifically, California will receive almost $1.7 million, Florida $1.2 million, and Texas $1.5 million. 

Since the start of the pandemic, HHS has worked with top organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and pharmacies to ensure quick roll-out of potential COVID-19 vaccines.

In mid-November, HHS announced the government’s partnerships with large chain pharmacies and networks to boost access to COVID-19 vaccines across the US.

The partnership program will cover nearly 60 percent of pharmacies across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The program will also focus specifically on underserved areas. 

The Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS), a public-private partnership to facilitate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 countermeasures, will support this effort. 

Then in December, HHS  announced that all tribal health programs and Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs) have chosen their preferred method for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

Tribal health programs and UIOs have the option to receive a COVID-19 vaccine either through the Indian Health Service (IHS) or their respective state, HHS explained. Once approved, HHS will allocate a vaccine to jurisdictions who will then distribute to tribal health programs and UIOs.

HHS also announced last week three ways the federal government will continue to support COVID-19 testing efforts by states and authorities into 2021. 

First, HHS stated that it will provide weekly shipments of COVID-19 sample collection supplies to states and territories through May 2021, including swabs and transport media, which are important for increasing testing capacity in communities nationwide. 

The agency will then collaborate with the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide streamlined processes for states, territories, and other government agencies to purchase point-of-care diagnostic tests.

Lastly, HHS will allocate an additional 30 million of Abbott’s BinaxNOW rapid antigen tests to support testing among high-risk populations. The additional tests will continue to support these organizations through approximately March 2021.

In the most recent HHS announcement, CDC Director, Robert R. Redfield, said that the new $22 billion funding for various COVID-19 efforts will "strengthen our nation's efforts to stop the COVID-19 pandemic in America.”

“Particularly now, it is crucial that states and communities have the resources they need to conduct testing, and to distribute and administer safe, high-quality COVID-19 vaccines safely and equitably,” Redfield concluded.