Covid Federal Aid Fight Risks Future Pandemic Drugs, Vaccines

The protracted fight over approving $10 billion to combat Covid-19 has shaken the pharmaceutical industry’s confidence that Congress will keep buying new pandemic-fighting drugs and funding research.

It’s crucial the government buy existing countermeasures while developing better treatments or a vaccine that could protect against multiple coronaviruses at once, drug industry insiders say. If federal funds dry up, the U.S. could see shortages of Covid drugs and delays in new, better therapies and vaccines.

“You need money for the investments of what we’re going to have to face in the winter, next year and in subsequent years,” Anthony Fauci, White ...