On Friday, President Biden announced that he intends to seek extra funds from Congress for creating a new COVID-19 vaccine. He indicated that the administration might recommend everyone to get vaccinated, irrespective of their prior vaccination status.
During a press interaction, when questioned about the surge in COVID cases and a new variant, Biden confirmed:
“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,”
“Tentatively it is recommended that it will likely be recommended everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not.”
This comes after an initial $40 million funding request by the White House on August 11, which curiously did not allocate any funds for coronavirus, but focused on aid for Ukraine. It is worth noting that a previous request for $9.25 billion in 2022 to combat the virus was rejected by Congress.
This forthcoming booster initiative contrasts sharply with President Biden’s previous declaration in September 2022 that the COVID-19 pandemic was “over,” albeit acknowledging the ongoing efforts to manage it.
