FDA cof­fers are tapped for a down pay­ment on a $300M Covid-19 PSA to ‘de­feat de­spair’

The De­part­ment of Health and Hu­man Ser­vices is push­ing for­ward with a pricey $300 mil­lion ad­ver­tis­ing cam­paign that Trump of­fi­cials de­scribe as a hope­ful and up­lift­ing mes­sage that would counter the drum beat of bad news they’re hear­ing in the me­dia. The li­on’s share of the funds, $250 mil­lion, were ap­pro­pri­at­ed from the HHS’s sub­or­di­nates at CDC. The mon­ey wasn’t be­com­ing avail­able fast enough, ev­i­dent­ly. While bu­reau­crat­ic de­tails were be­ing worked out, a sep­a­rate small­er con­tract pay­ing $14,998,049 was speed­i­ly is­sued from the FDA’s cof­fers.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER