Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder After more than three years and 1.1 million deaths, the United States on Thursday ended the public health emergency for COVID-19 — and Congress is attempting to better prepare for a possible resurgence of that virus or another. The expiration of the designation, originally put in place …
Read More »Moderna Plan To Hike COVID Vaccine Price To $130 A Dose Rebuked At Senate Hearing
Jennifer Shutt, New Jersey Monitor The CEO of Moderna on Wednesday defended the company’s decision to drastically increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccine later this year, arguing that an expected drop in demand, changes to its distribution process and the overall benefit of the vaccine warrant the higher cost. …
Read More »Biden Signs Bill Declassifying Information On The Origin Of COVID-19
Jennifer Shutt, Florida Phoenix The U.S. director of national intelligence has three months to declassify information on potential links between China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19, after President Joe Biden signed legislation Monday. The bill was one of the first Biden has signed since a 118th …
Read More »Congress Unanimously Votes To Require Declassified Information On COVID-19 Origins
Jennifer Shutt, Florida Phoenix The divided 118th Congress approved its first bill Friday, after lawmakers in both the House and Senate voted unanimously to send President Joe Biden legislation that would require declassification of intelligence on the origins of COVID-19. The four-page bill, which the House voted 419-0 to clear, would …
Read More »President Biden To End COVID-19 Public Health Emergency In May
The two national emergency declarations dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic will end in May, President Joe Biden said Monday. The Biden administration will end both the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency on May 11, the White House informed Congress on Monday night. Doing so will have many effects, …
Read More »XBB.1.5 ‘rapidly Replacing Other COVID Subvariants’; Global Health Officials Expect Surge In Cases
Global health officials are warning of an expected surge in cases of COVID-19 in the United States and other countries as the latest, most transmissible omicron subvariant continues to circulate. That new subvariant is called XBB.1.5 and it’s been rapidly growing in the United States. Both the World Health Organization …
Read More »White House Resumes Handing Out Free COVID-19 Rapid Test Kits
Jennifer Shutt, South Dakota Searchlight The Biden administration is once again offering Americans the opportunity to order free at-home COVID-19 rapid tests from the federal government, a program that it had shuttered amid an ongoing stalemate with Congress over additional funding to address the virus. The program will allow each …
Read More »Final House Covid Panel Report Exposes ‘Reckless’ Trump Pandemic Response
A congressional panel on Friday published its final report on the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the Trump administration’s “failed stewardship” and detailing how a “persistent pattern of political interference undermined the nation’s ability to respond” to a crisis that has claimed more than a million lives in the United States. The …
Read More »White House Asks Congress For Billions In Ukraine, COVID-19 Funding During Lame Duck
Jennifer Shutt, Michigan Advance The Biden administration on Tuesday asked Congress for billions more in funding this year to address COVID-19 and the ongoing war in Ukraine, suggesting lawmakers attach it to a spending bill that must pass before Dec. 16. The $9 billion request for COVID-19 operations and nearly …
Read More »President Biden Gets Updated COVID Vaccine, Announces New COVID Initiatives
President Joe Biden received his updated COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday while calling on more Americans to do so ahead of the winter and holiday season. Biden was joined by leaders of major U.S. pharmacy chains Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and Albertsons, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier …
Read More »FDA, CDC Greenlight Updated COVID-19 Booster For Kids 5 To 11
Jennifer Shutt, Arkansas Advocate The federal government on Wednesday recommended an updated COVID-19 booster for kids between 5 and 11, expanding use of the new bivalent shots beyond people 12 and older. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first authorized the updated vaccines use in the morning before the Centers …
Read More »Feds Charge 47 People In $250 Million Scheme That Defrauded Pandemic Food Aid Program
Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Federal criminal charges were filed Tuesday against 47 people who allegedly participated in a $250 million scheme to exploit a federal child nutrition program during the pandemic. Over the course of about 20 months, the defendants falsely claimed to serve more than 125 million meals, with …
Read More »COVID-19 Vaccine May Become Annual, Like Flu Shot
Jennifer Shutt, Virginia Mercury COVID-19 booster shots are on track to become as frequent as the annual flu shot, though high-risk people may need more than one dose per year, Biden administration officials said Tuesday. “For a large majority of Americans, we are moving to a point where a single …
Read More »White House Requests $47 Billion In Emergency Funding For Ukraine, Vaccines And More
Jacob Fischler, Georgia Recorder The Biden administration is asking Congress for emergency funding to support Ukraine’s military, national COVID and monkeypox responses and to help communities affected by natural disasters. The current fiscal year ends Sept. 30 and Congress has not passed a funding measure for next year, so a …
Read More »CDC Endorses Updated COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters For This Fall
Ariana Figueroa, Georgia Recorder The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday signed off on the approval from the agency’s independent vaccine advisers that recommended an updated coronavirus vaccine booster this fall. The CDC recommended boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for those who are 12 years old and older and from Moderna for …
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