Biden says he will seek more funding for a new Covid vaccine

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — President Joe Biden said Friday he plans to ask Congress for more money to develop another new coronavirus vaccine as scientists track new waves and hospitalizations rise, but not like before.

Officials are already waiting for updated Covid vaccines containing a version of the omicron strain, called XBB.1.5. This is a significant change from today’s combination injections, which mix the original strain of coronavirus with the most common omicron variants from last year. But there will always be a need to update vaccines as the virus continues to mutate.

People should be able to start rolling up their sleeves next month for what officials hope will be an annual Covid vaccine in the fall. Pfizer, Moderna and small manufacturer Novavax are all preparing doses of the XBB update, but the Food and Drug Administration will have to approve each one, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will then have to issue recommendations for their usage.

“I signed a proposal this morning that we need to apply to Congress for additional funding for a new vaccine that is needed and that works,” Biden, who is on vacation in the Lake Tahoe area of ​​the United States, said Friday. journalists.

He added that it is “tentatively” recommended “that everyone get it”, once the snaps are ready.

The $40 billion funding request presented by the White House to Congress on August 11 did not mention Covid. It included requests for funding for Ukraine, to replenish US federal disaster funds in the country after a deadly weather season of heat and storms, as well as funds to strengthen controls at the southern border with the Mexico, including funds to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. Last fall, the administration requested $9.25 billion in funding to fight the virus, but Congress denied that request.

For the week ending July 29, Covid hospital admissions stood at 9,056. This represents an increase of around 12% from the previous week. But we are far from past peaks, such as the 44,000 weekly hospitalizations at the beginning of January, the nearly 45,000 at the end of July 2022, or the 150,000 hospitalizations during the omicron surge of January 2022.