Democrats are looking at creating a massive public health workforce to bolster President Joe Biden's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and they'll have to balance competing visions for where health workers are needed most.
Biden said he wants 100,000 new workers to expand America's public health infrastructure to aid contact tracing, vaccine outreach, and other efforts. The cost could run $7 billion or more and is slated to be part of a relief package of as much as $1.9 trillion that Democrats intend to vote on in the coming weeks.
The U.S. Covid-19 response has lacked the personnel needed to track virus outbreaks, expand capacity at public health departments and help Americans address everyday problems related to the pandemic, such as navigating health-care systems to find a vaccine or get information, lawmakers argue.
The added funding will aim to get health services into underserved communities, typically Black and Latino neighborhoods, to "perform vital tasks like vaccine outreach and contact tracing," House Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said recently.
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