President Biden's budget proposal calls for $81.7 billion to spend over five years preparing for future pandemics, which would be a significant investment in boosting the country's readiness for future threats.

However, the president's budget is only a proposal, and any new funding for pandemic preparedness would require congressional approval.

About $15 billion in funding for vaccines, tests, and treatments was stripped out of the government funding bill earlier this month.

The president's budget calls for $40 billion to develop and manufacture vaccines, treatments, and tests aimed at future threats. Another $28 billion would go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for surveillance, lab capacity, and the public health workforce.

The National Institutes of Health would get $12.1 billion for research on vaccines and other measures, while the FDA would get $1.6 billion for its labs and information technology.

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