The Obama administration plans to reallocate $81 million from the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the Zika virus, according to a letter sent Thursday by HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.
Burwell notified congressional leaders that she will transfer $34 million away from other programs at the National Institutes of Health and $47 million within the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority budget. The money will supplement the $347 million HHS transferred away from an existing fund to fight the Ebola virus. The administration is seeking $1.9 billion to fight Zika, but Congress is deadlocked over the funding.
“The failure to pass a Zika emergency supplemental has forced the Administration to choose between delaying critical vaccine development work and raiding other worthy government programs to temporarily avoid these delays,” Burwell wrote.
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