From the jump Republicans have been reluctant to deal with the Covid virus that has made millions sick and dead….
With virus infections down, but sneaking back up in some places?
The Republicans will NOT support increased funding for American’s virus testing , treatment and other services…
The Biden admin will move money for other programs to support free vaccines……
Without the change in approach, White House officials fear that the United States would not be able to source new vaccines or other treatments, particularly in the face of any potential fall or winter surge, given high global demand. Even so, the Biden administration’s emergency measures may not be enough to secure vaccines for every American should a new, next-generation version reach the market, according to a second White House aide.
But the moves carry additional cost, the official added, since Republicans on Capitol Hill have repeatedly blocked the sort of robust aid package that the Biden administration has sought for months. The federal government plans to take the roughly $10 billion from programs that are supposed to help make tests available and produce them domestically, as well as initiatives meant to help stockpile protective equipment and ventilators, according to the official. The cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services could also affect planned agency work on coronavirus vaccine and treatment research.
The scramble comes amid weeks of increasingly dire warnings from the Biden administration that the country is not prepared for another late-year spike in infections, the likes of which already are starting to show this summer….
Moderna says it has a new and improved booster to work against the Omicron Covid Virus….
But some scientists are uncertain that medicine can catch up with changes the virus is doing to survive and flourish…
Moderna released preliminary results on Wednesday on an updated coronavirus vaccine targeting the Omicron variant, calling it “our lead candidate” to serve as a U.S. booster shot in the fall.
The firm’s researchers tested a booster dose combining the original vaccine with one targeted specifically against Omicron, the variant that became dominant last winter. They found that among those with no evidence of prior coronavirus infection, the combination produced 1.75 times the level of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron as the existing Moderna vaccine did alone.
While those results seem encouraging on their face, many experts worry that the virus is evolving so fast that it is outpacing the ability to modify vaccines — at least as long as the United States relies on human clinical trials for results.
Moderna’s new findings, from a clinical trial involving 814 volunteers, indicate that the updated vaccine produced a significantly stronger immune response against Omicron than the existing vaccine a month after the booster shot was given. The booster shots followed three earlier doses of Moderna’s vaccine….