Officials said Tuesday that the Biden government is seeking another $30 billion to accelerate its fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. Two sources familiar with the government’s plan confirmed the main details: $3 billion to cover COVID-19 care for uninsured individuals, $3.7 billion to prepare for future virus variants, $4.9 billion for testing, and$17.9 billion for treatments and vaccines.
On the other hand, GOP Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri told reporters that he would speak with Xavier Becerra, the Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary, and they will be suggesting a $30 billion additional. Jen Psaki, the press secretary of the White House, addressed the need for extra money without indicating the amount being sought.
Officials said that the Biden government is telling Congress that it requires $30 billion to fight Coronavirus. $17.9 billion for vaccines & treatments, $4.9 billion for testing, $3.7 billion to prepare for future variants & so on. https://t.co/qw6RZ88zqg pic.twitter.com/dzrD1hFnvg
— Live News Now (@LiveNewsNow6) February 16, 2022
According to the independent Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), Congress previously approved $5.8 trillion to fight the COVID-19 pandemic c in a series of significant bills covering the Biden and Trump governments. That is not counting actions of the Federal Reserve to help keep the economy of the country going.
Additionally, she said most of the funds from the 2021 COVID-19 relief bill of the U.S. President Joe Biden allocated or spent, with ninety percent going for such priorities as testing, vaccines, and support for schools. It is not clear how the request for additional funding will fare in Congress. GOP leaders would like to see more Coronavirus relief for businesses still fighting the deadly outbreak. At the same time, Democratic left-wingers want a significant effort to inoculate the rest of the world.
Humanitarian Groups Asking Billions of Dollars for Global Vaccination Efforts
Humanitarian Groups and dozens of Democratic representatives urged key Committee leaders in Congress and the White House to provide billions of dollars in funds for worldwide vaccination efforts. While Coronavirus vaccine shots are becoming more plentiful, the infrastructure to administrate vaccine shots into arms is insufficient in several low-income nations.
According to a recent analysis of CARE, thirty-two out of ninety-two poorer countries that receive COVID-19 vaccine aids used less than half of the shots delivered. Among those countries are Nigeria, which used thirty-four percent of shots delivered, Haiti, thirty-nine percent, and Afghanistan, forty-six percent. Axios first reported the government’s plan to demand more funds.
Child Coronavirus Hospitalizations Rose amid the Omicron Variant
According to the latest study published Tuesday by the CDC, Coronavirus hospitalization among kids raised as highly infectious Omicron variant replaced Delta variant as the predominant COVID-19 variant in the U.S., especially among those under five, who are not eligible for vaccination. At their peak, weekly pediatric Coronavirus hospitalization rates were four times greater during the dominance period of Omicron than during the dominance period of the Delta variant.
Furthermore, kids younger than five saw the most significant surge, with hospitalization rates greater than five times greater during Omicron duration than during Delta. In late February or early March, there is a hope that the Coronavirus vaccine for kids younger than five would be available in late February or early March after BioNTech and Pfizer asked FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) of a two-shot series of their kid-sized shot for kids six months through four years old.
Source: Web
However, the FDA said last Friday that it would wait for the vaccine manufacturers to submit statistics from their current trial on a three-shot regimen in these younger kids before proceeding ahead. Moreover, the recent study found that the share of pediatric patients hospitalized primarily for Coronavirus was steady during both Omicron and Delta periods, suggesting that unplanned admissions don’t account for the surge in hospitalization rates observed during the duration of Omicron.
In the United States, vaccination rates among kids lag significantly behind adults’. According to CDC statistics, twenty-four percent, less than a quarter of kids ages five to eleven, and fifty-seven percent of adolescents ages twelve and seventeen received full vaccination shots, compared with around three-quarters (seventy-five percent) of adults.
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