A pedestrian wearing a face mask is seen on a street in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Dec. 16, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
The U.S. government plans to advance new health technologies through Project Next Gen, with 5 billion U.S. dollars to speed the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.
LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. coronavirus alert will officially end next week, and the Joe Biden administration will no longer require vaccination for travelers arriving from abroad or for federal officials.
"We are announcing that the administration will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal employees, federal contractors, and international air travelers at the end of the day on May 11, the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency ends," the White House said in a statement on Monday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Homeland Security will start their own processes to end vaccination requirements for Head Start educators, workers at healthcare facilities that take Medicare and Medicaid, and some non-citizens at the land border, according to the White House statement.
"The short, four-paragraph statement closes one of the most contentious chapters in recent American history, in which vaccine mandates became a centerpiece for a vitriolic battle between Republicans and Democrats across the country," said The New York Times.
The vaccine requirements were ordered by the Biden administration in 2021.
People wearing face masks are seen at a subway station in New York, the United States, on Dec. 7, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
Since January 2021, COVID-19 deaths in the country have declined by 95 percent, and hospitalizations are down nearly 91 percent, according to the White House.
"Following a whole-of-government effort that led to a record number of nearly 270 million Americans receiving at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, we are in a different phase of our response to COVID-19 than we were when many of these requirements were put into place," said the White House.
The HHS has provided a roadmap outlining the transition away from the public health emergency. Although COVID-19 vaccines will probably be covered at least until Sept. 30, 2024, COVID-19 treatments and testing might require out-of-pocket expenses based on health insurance. Medicaid determination is being pushed back to individual states, leading to mounting pressure to underinsured or uninsured people.
The mandatory sharing of COVID-19 lab test results and local and state vaccine data with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will also come to an end when the public emergency ceases.
The U.S. government plans to advance new health technologies through Project Next Gen, with 5 billion U.S. dollars to speed the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.
"Moving forward also requires a reckoning with the mistakes of the past. For COVID-19, this means understanding the key contradiction at the heart of the pandemic in the USA," said an article published in The Lancet. ■