The White House plans to declare an end to the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11. Since 2020, multiple extensions of the declarations were made by Trump’s administration.
The end of the emergency declaration could have consequences for funding tests and vaccines, as well as other pandemic-related policy. Already, Congress is restraining efforts to extend programs tied to the pandemic.
The White House presented its plan in opposition to two House bills that would have ended emergency declarations earlier.
The statement calls the bills a “grave service to the American people” and says that an abrupt end to emergency declarations would cause chaos and uncertainty in the entire health care system, including for states, hospitals, doctors’ offices, as well as for the millions of Americans.
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