President Joe Biden said Friday that he is planning to request more money from Congress to develop another new coronavirus vaccine, as scientists track new waves and hospitalizations rise, though not like before
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, California -- President Joe Biden said Friday that he is planning to request more money from Congress to develop another new coronavirus vaccine, as scientists track new waves and hospitalizations rise, though not like before.
Officials are already expecting updated COVID-19 vaccines that contain one version of the omicron strain, called XBB.1.5. It’s an important change from today’s combination shots, which mix the original coronavirus strain with last year’s most common omicron variants. But there will always be a need for updated vaccines as the virus continues to mutate.
People should be able to start rolling up their sleeves next month for what officials hope is an annual fall COVID-19 shot. Pfizer, Moderna and smaller manufacturer Novavax all are brewing doses of the XBB update but the Food and Drug Administration will have to sign off on each, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must then issue recommendations for their use.
“I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works,” Biden, who is vacationing in the Lake Tahoe area, told reporters on Friday.
He added that it’s “tentatively” recommended “that everybody get it,” once the shots are ready.
The White House's $40 billion funding request to Congress on Aug. 11 did not mention COVID-19. It included funding requests for Ukraine, to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. Last fall, the administration asked for $9.25 billion in funding to combat the virus, but Congress refused the request.
For the week ending July 29, COVID-19 hospital admissions were at 9,056. That’s an increase of about 12% from the previous week. But it’s a far cry from past peaks, like the 44,000 weekly hospital admissions in early January, the nearly 45,000 in late July 2022, or the 150,000 admissions during the omicron surge of January 2022.
react_cursive on August 26th, 2023 at 16:55 UTC »
I got 3 vaccines so I am all for this. But it’s clear that Moderna wants to start charging people to take the Covid vaccine. Their ceo is pushing for it.
Honest question, why are we crowdfunding Moderna and Pfizer if the plan is for them to just turn around and sell it to make an absurd profit? Am I reading this wrong? I’m fully aware it costs money to make but perhaps protections against price gouging or price caps?
It feels more akin to “Fund our new vaccine or we won’t make another one.”
ETA:
While I do believe healthcare should be free to low cost, I’m also a realist within our capitalist culture and I’m not advocating that they should just break even or lose money.
However, there is a difference between one dose vaccine costing $5 to make, charging $110-130 (Moderna CEO proposal) at shelf price, and charging $10-$20 — both make a profit, but it’s unreasonable to allow them to mark it up 20x just because we have no protections in place.
Not every company needs to make “record profits”, every fucking fiscal quarter because of share holders.
It’s getting ridiculous.
RayObama on August 26th, 2023 at 15:39 UTC »
Got vaxxed years ago and still haven’t died or had any complications. But people will swear that everybody who got the vaccine is suffering from heart disease or some nonsense like that.
iNeRo0 on August 26th, 2023 at 15:33 UTC »
Excited to watch the idiots freak about this one. Their eyes are gonna fly out of their heads.