As we approach the two-year mark of the global pandemic, Americans are asking, ‘How does this end?’ The answer is: It doesn’t unless we have a global response that matches the scale of the threat. History has shown us if we don’t get this right we will be back at it again. As long as vaccine rates are less than 10 percent in dozens of low- and middle-income countries, I fear we will keep playing a game of whack-a-mole with the next variant that rises up. Every American family will keep paying the health and economic cost if we don’t step up with a serious global response.

To date, Americans can be proud of the leadership our country has shown on the world stage, having committed to donate more than a billion vaccine doses globally and hosted last year’s Global COVID-19 Summit. However, the threat is far from over. With 5.5 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide and 45 million people on the brink of famine, the virus and humanitarian crises are running faster than we are. We can invest now globally or pay much more later in lives and livelihoods.

That’s why Congress and the Administration must urgently reach a bipartisan agreement on FY22 spending with new, targeted emergency supplemental resources for the global response alongside a strong State-Foreign Operations topline of no less than $62.2 billion. There is no time to waste.