The White House has decided to combat the Zika virus by transferring funds that were originally intended to help prevent future Ebola outbreaks. The decision, which was first reported by the Associated Press, comes after weeks of GOP intransigence on Capitol Hill — and directly contradicts recommendations from the global health community.
Although the mosquito-borne Zika virus is relatively harmless for most people, it’s concerning for pregnant women because of the mounting evidence that Zika can cause serious birth defects.
The issue has taken on more urgency for U.S. officials as mosquito season draws near. Health officials expect the first locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus to appear in the continental United States by June or July. Southern cities in Florida and Texas are especially vulnerable to the virus, and some researchers believe it could spread farther north after that.
In light of that, President Obama asked in February for about $1.9 billion in emergency funds to combat Zika — funding that would go toward mosquito control programs, vaccine research, and health care for low-income pregnant women. But Republicans in Congress balked at the idea of appropriating that extra money.
For weeks, getting Zika-specific money has been a top priority for the United States’ leading medical officials, who urged Congress to approve the president’s proposed $1.9 package. The heads of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) warned that they’re being forced to scrounge up money from existing programs, like other efforts to prevent HIV and dengue fever.
“We are scraping together every dime we can to respond to this,” CDC director Tom Frieden told NBC News last month. “It is definitely interfering with our ability to mount a robust response… and affecting our ability to protect Americans from other health threats.”
Zika’s Spread Across The U.S. May Change The Narrative Around AbortionBy now, most Americans are familiar with the Zika virus, the mosquito-spread disease that’s left thousands of babies…thinkprogress.orgBut GOP lawmakers held firm, arguing that there’s no need for additional funds because the White House should simply use leftover money from the Ebola outbreak for this purpose.
Congress approved about $5 billion in 2014 to help address the Ebola epidemic. The White House initially argued that it didn’t make sense to move part of these funds to combat Zika. Even though the worst of the outbreak is now over, the public health work is not complete.
The deadly Ebola virus, which spread rapidly throughout West African countries and killed more than 10,000 people, was so devastating to the region largely because its weak infrastructure was unprepared for it. Ebola was able to spread so far specifically because Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria are impoverished countries without strong health care systems. So the U.S. funds designated for Ebola were intended to help those countries improve their struggling public health systems to prevent something like this from happening again.
The scientific community has been clear about the fact that they don’t want to divert Ebola funds, repeatedly arguing that the money is already spoken for and that Republicans are undercutting global public health strategy. This week, more than 60 public health and medical groups wrote a letter urging Congressional leaders to “provide new funding rather than repurpose money from other high priority programs.”
“If the Obama administration appeases Republicans in Congress, diverting Ebola money to Zika, the United States would be reneging on its promise to rebuild the devastated public health infrastructure of West Africa,” two global health experts from the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in an op-ed last month. “America will be robbing Peter to pay Paul. And the world’s suspicions of our ‘health security’ intentions would be validated.”
“Directing the administration to reallocate money from Ebola to Zika would rob one public health emergency to deal with another,” the New York Times editorial board agreed, calling the proposed move “a senseless and dangerous idea” last month.
Nonetheless, that’s exactly what’s happening, presumably because the White House couldn’t get Republicans to budge.
The Obama administration is reversing its earlier position and agreeing to transfer about $600 million that was originally appropriated for Ebola-related projects and prevention efforts in 30 impoverished nations, according to the Associated Press. Most of that money will go to the CDC to help with researching Zika, treating people infected with the virus, and slowing the spread of mosquitoes.