The Biden Administration last week released the next phase of its COVID-19 strategy, the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. In a new insight, Health Care Policy Fellow Margaret Barnhorst outlines the plan’s key goals, and notes uncertainty about the plan’s costs and likelihood of implementation.

Key points:

• The Biden Administration’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan outlines steps to continue the federal response to COVID-19 and prevent future outbreaks and shutdowns.
• The plan centers around four key goals—protect against and treat COVID-19, prepare for new variants, prevent economic and educational shutdowns, and continue to vaccinate the world—many of which will require congressional action.
• The administration does not include a clear estimate of how much its plan will cost; without congressional support for billions more in pandemic funding, the implementation and eventual outcomes of the administration’s preparedness initiatives are uncertain.

Read the analysis