Skip to main content
Tags: joe biden | covid19 | emergency | midterm

Biden Admin Seeks to Extend COVID Emergency Declaration Past Midterms

Biden Admin Seeks to Extend COVID Emergency Declaration Past Midterms
President Joe Biden speaks on a "successful" counterterrorism operation that killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, from the Blue Room balcony of the White House on Aug. 1, 2022. (Jim Watson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

By    |   Saturday, 06 August 2022 11:51 AM EDT

The Biden administration is seeking to extend its COVID-19 emergency declaration beyond the midterms.

Three people with knowledge of the matter told Politico that the decision, which has not been made final, would ensure that federal measures protect some form of health coverage, access to vaccines, and treatments.

"COVID is not over," one senior Biden official stated. "The pandemic is not over. It doesn't make sense to lift this [declaration] given what we're seeing on the ground in terms of cases."
If the proposed extension goes through, the Department of Health and Human Services will continue the declaration past the November midterms and likely into 2023.

But an HHS spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. Still, others close to the administration warned the situation might change ahead of the Aug. 15 deadline for deciding whether to extend the measure.

The Biden administration has increasingly insisted that COVID vaccines and boosters allow Americans to live with the virus in relative safety. But this assertion comes at a time when caseloads are topping 100,000 a day.

"It will end whenever the emergency ends," one senior administration official said.

But with vaccines and treatments already widely distributed, no expectation remains that the administration can stop COVID; this comes when other health officials, over the last several months, have discussed a phasing-out from the emergency declaration and what it should look like.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.

Politics
The Biden administration is seeking to extend its COVID-19 emergency declaration beyond the midterms.
joe biden, covid19, emergency, midterm
229
2022-51-06
Saturday, 06 August 2022 11:51 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 

Interest-Based Advertising | Do not sell or share my personal information

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© 2025 Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Download the Newsmax App
NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© 2025 Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved