Here’s some more on Joe Biden speaking later about the Covid-19 pandemic. The president is set to announce a new White House initiative to incorporate a “one-stop shop website” designed to give Americans better access to tools and information in fighting coronavirus.
The president will announce that the US is at “a new moment in the pandemic” with lifesaving tools such as improved testing, vaccines and treatments available, and that the website covid.gov will consolidate guidance into a single point of information.
“With a click of a button, people will be able to find where to access all of these tools, as well as receive the latest CDC data on the level of Covid-19 in their community,” a press release about Biden’s announcement states.
“Protecting the American people… now and into the future relies on affordable and accessible tools like vaccines, treatments, tests and high-quality masks. Through efforts like covid.gov and test-to-treat, the Administration continues to take steps to make these tools even more readily available. Now, we need Congress to do its part and continue to fund the Covid-19 response.”
The funding of vaccinations, and the wider government response to the pandemic, has become a bone of contention, even as rates of infection and the number of deaths have tumbled since the peak of the Omicron variant.
In a statement earlier this month, the White House blasted Congress for failing to provide an additional $22.5bn the Biden administration says it needs to continue, among other initiatives, the funding and distribution of vaccines nationwide, and warned of the risk of a new wave of infections.
On Tuesday, the US food and drug administration (FDA) and federal centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) approved a second booster vaccine for Americans over 50, and those with compromised immune systems.
Many health officials are concerned about the fast spread of the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, which has now become dominant in the US, the New York Times reports.
Here’s more about the FDA approving a second round of booster shots: