Zika has proliferated throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The CDC has already predicted a 25 percent infection rate for the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico. Continental states like Texas and Florida are bracing for a similar impacts.
Even though top health officials have previously called for ‘urgent action’ from Congress, House Republicans have balked at the request.
“There is plenty of money in the pipeline right now; money that is not going to Ebola, that was already in the pipeline, that can go immediately to Zika,” Rep. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, told reporters this week, according to NBC News.
Tom Frieden, MD, director of the CDC, and Tony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have said that money is already being used on things like trials of Ebola vaccines and treatments in West Africa where the worst Ebola outbreak in history killed more than 11,000 people
“The last thing we need is attention deficit disorder about the threats that face Americans… it would be dangerous to let down our guard. And there are new diseases out there,” Dr. Frieden told NBC News, noting that Ebola has resurfaced in Guinea where it’s recently killed five people.
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Frieden have said they’re siphoning money from other initiatives. In Puerto Rico, the CDC’s entire center devoted to fighting the dengue virus has been repurposed to study Zika.
“We are scraping together every dime we can to respond to this,” Dr. Frieden reportedly said earlier this month, according to NBC News.
More articles on the Zika virus:
WHO still waiting for $4M in Zika funds
Infographic: Where in the US have Zika cases been reported? [March 18 update]
Fighting Zika with genetically modified mosquitoes: 4 things to know
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