The U.S. Must Set the Stage for Global Action

Why Investment and Leadership is Critical to End COVID-19

Two years ago, none of us could have envisioned the devastation that COVID-19 has had on the global community. Over five-and-a-half million lives have been lost worldwide, and as the pandemic moves into its third year and we contend with the Omicron variant, an urgency has intensified to ensure that people around the world, in all countries and at all income levels, have affordable access to testing, treatment, and vaccination.??

COVID-19 poses a significant threat to the 37 million people living with HIV and could roll back years of progress in the global AIDS response. At this pivotal moment, the U.S. has the opportunity to step forward and invest in a more aggressive global response to COVID-19 destruction and prepare for future pandemics, providing both the resources and leadership that this moment requires. Simply put, the U.S must lead by example, as the coronavirus seems to be with us for the foreseeable future.?

Late last month the world noted the 10 billionth COVID-19 vaccine administered, a historic milestone in global vaccination rates. The World Health Organization (WHO) set international targets for immunization in each country - 10 percent by September 2021, 40 percent by the end of 2021, and 70 percent by September 2022 - the first two of which have now been missed. Less than 10 percent of people in low- and middle-income countries have received just one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, leaving more than 3 billion people globally unvaccinated.??

Delta and Omicron have demonstrated that leaving large portions of the world’s population unvaccinated exposes the world and the U.S. population to the emergence of further variants. The truth is that the U.S. won’t fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic unless we also fight the virus and its deadly variants around the world.?

As Dr. John Nkengasong, Head of Africa CDC and President Biden’s nominee for Global AIDS Ambassador recently stated, “SARS-CoV-2 … will continue to change and produce new variants. This is especially true as long as there are large groups of unvaccinated people around the world whom the virus can easily infect and use as hosts to replicate inside and mutate. Because of this, it’s impossible for a single country to end the pandemic alone.”?

As COVID-19 variants continue to emerge, it is essential that significant resources are brought to bear to meet the extensive challenges posed by the pandemic. In 2021, the United States invested over $19 billion through Congressional appropriation toward the international COVID-19 response. A truly sustained response requires Congress to allocate at least an additional $17 billion this year – crucial funds that will be used to support vaccination of 70% of the world by September 2022 and to shore up fragile global health systems, protecting our work in other critical global health priorities such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.???

Progress toward ending AIDS reversed in 2020 for the first time in two decades, according to a recent analysis by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. We cannot allow this new pandemic to continue to erode the hard-won progress against HIV/AIDS – in many ways made possible by the historic success of two programs: President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund. In fact, these groundbreaking programs built the public health foundations that many countries now use to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. It was welcome news that the Biden Administration will host the three-year replenishment of the Global Fund in the fall of this year, which will be a pivotal moment for U.S. recommitment to global health and gaining back the momentum lost amid COVID-19.?

As we mark 19 years of PEPFAR, we are reminded of the program’s stunning progress. With consistent, bipartisan support and a dynamic, data-driven approach, PEPFAR has transformed global health programming, strengthened global health security, and saved more than 20 million lives. With its track record and deep experience delivering antiviral therapies, PEPFAR is well-positioned to leverage its extensive footprint with low- and lower-middle-income countries to ensure that vaccinations are effectively distributed to those who need them most.?

But PEPFAR has been without Senate-confirmed leadership for some time now. In September of 2021, President Biden nominated Dr. Nkengasong to lead PEPFAR, and I cannot think of a better person to meet today’s challenges. As an expert in virology and a public health advocate, Cameroonian-born American citizen, special envoy to the Director General of the WHO for COVID-19 Preparedness and Response, Dr. Nkengasong possesses a unique perspective about the concerns of the communities most served by PEPFAR’s life-saving work and simultaneously impacted by COVID-19.?

African leadership is paramount for significant and meaningful progress against an epidemic that has for decades - and continues today - to disproportionately impact Africa. Dr. Nkengasong recently noted that by the end of 2022, Africa will see an uptick in the availability of COVID-19 vaccines given that countries such as South Africa will have the necessary tools to begin manufacturing and distributing their own vaccines stockpiles and that countries such as Kenya and Nigeria have expressed interest in doing the same. He has used his public health expertise to champion effective and accessible approaches to strengthening global health equity. I urge his swift confirmation as his talents are needed now more than ever.??

Sustained investment transformed the global HIV pandemic, and the same approach must be taken in the global fight against COVID-19. The U.S. has committed to distributing more than one billion vaccines globally by the end of this year. Soon the Biden Administration will hold its second COVID-19 summit. As we head into that event, Congress must provide a sustained flow of resources commensurate with evolving needs of this deadly pandemic, and move forward to confirm a new leader at PEPFAR. Anything short of that will be a missed opportunity to save more lives and get the global community back on track to achieving not only an AIDS-free generation but a world free of COVID-19.?