The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-09)

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

BY TONY ROMM

The Biden administration is
shifting dwindling federal corona-
virus funds toward securing an-
other round of vaccines and treat-
ments — rationing m oney and cut-
ting back on other critical public
health programs as Congress re-
mains at odds over whether to
spend more to battle the pandem-
ic.
The U.S. government plans to
redirect about $5 billion in exist-
ing funds so it can purchase any
new, updated versions of the vac-
cines if they become available, ac-
cording to an administration offi-
cial, who spoke o n the condition of
anonymity to describe the deliber-
ations. The government also in-
tends to repurpose another $5 bil-
lion in previously authorized aid
so it can secure a ccess to t herapeu-
tics, including the pill Paxlovid,
the aide said.
Without the change in ap-
proach, White House officials fear
that the United States would not
be able to source new vaccines or
other treatments, particularly in
the face of any potential fall or
winter surge, given high global
demand. Even so, the Biden ad-
ministration’s emergency mea-
sures may not be enough to secure
vaccines for every American
should a new, n ext-generation ver-
sion reach the market, according

to a second White House aide.

But the moves carry additional

cost, the official added, since Re-

publicans on Capitol Hill have re-

peatedly b locked the s ort of robust

aid package that the Biden admin-

istration has sought for months.

The federal government plans to

take the roughly $10 billion from

programs that are supposed to

help make tests available and pro-

duce them domestically, as well as

initiatives meant to help stockpile

protective equipment and ventila-

tors, according to the official. The

cuts at the Department of Health

and Human Services could also

affect planned agency work on

coronavirus vaccine and treat-

ment research.

The scramble comes amid

weeks of increasingly dire warn-

ings from the Biden administra-

tion that the country is not pre-

pared for another late-year spike

in infections, the likes of which

already are being seen. Cases are

up about 38 percent nationwide i n

the past week, although experts

believe that’s an undercount be-

cause of the number of at-home

rapid tests being done.

“We will continue doing our

part to protect the American peo-

ple,” White House press secretary

Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters

Tuesday. “We’ll use the few funds

we have remaining to continue

getting testing, treatments and

vaccine out to Americans for as

long as we can.”

The urgent call to action from

the White House stands in stark

contrast with the mood at t he Cap-

itol, where the political appetite

for adopting a new round of coro-

navirus funding appeared to di-

minish even before lawmakers

had focused on the deadly gun

violence sweeping the nation. Be-

hind the scenes, top White House

aides have labored to grab law-

makers’ attention, hoping to resur-

face the issue and break the in-

creasingly costly political logjam.

The Biden administration first

asked Congress to approve an-

other round of aid in March, re-

questing $22.5 billion to help pur-

chase tests, vaccines and thera-

peutics. Even then, the president’s

top aides warned that it would not

be enough, signaling t heir funding

concerns even before the arrival of

a new, more transmissible version

of the omicron variant.

The administration’s initial en-

treaties m et s tiff resistance a mong

Republicans. Fearing t he fiscal im-

pacts of more than $5 trillion in

spending since the pandemic be-

gan, GOP leaders argued the U.S.

government should instead repur-

pose existing funds, including the

vast sums approved under last

year’s American Rescue Plan,

which the party opposed. And Re-

publicans demanded that Demo-

crats find ways to pay for any new

pandemic spending in full rather

than borrowing the money, a re-

quirement they did not make of

the billions of dollars in emergen-

cy aid for Ukraine that lawmakers

approved in bipartisan fashion.

GOP lawmakers led by Sen. Mitt

Romney (R-Utah) at one point did

work o ut a compromise with Dem-

ocrats for a package that totaled

not even half as much as the White

House initially sought. But that

roughly $10 billion proposal soon

ran into its o wn political o bstacles,

after Republicans tried to use it to

force a vote in an unrelated fight

over immigration. The package

also excluded Democrats’ requests

for funds to help distribute vac-

cines globally, which experts say is

critical to preventing the incuba-

tion of new variants.

Still, Democrats kept trying. In

May, Senate Majority Leader

Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said

the chamber would act as soon as

it received a bill from the House,

which many party lawmakers ex-

pected would include the

$22.5 billion in funding that the

Biden administration initially

sought. But by June, the House still

had not readied such a plan, and

even some top Democrats in the

chamber said Wednesday that it

was the Senate that needed to

move first — signaling a lingering

logjam.

“Why would passing it a second

time magically make the Senate

more supportive of what we

passed? And I don’t know the an-

swer to that question,” House Ma-

jority Leader Steny H. Hoyer

(D-Md.) told reporters at a news

conference.

“If I thought, magically, our do-

ing it again — I would certainly,

you know, consider that and prob-

ably be supportive,” Hoyer added.

In the meantime, top White

House officials have sought to

highlight t he consequences o f con-

gressional inaction. Speaking a

press briefing last week, Ashish

Jha, the country’s top pandemic

response coordinator, expressed

concern that the country is going

to “run out of vaccines,” treat-

ments and tests, particularly “in

the late fall into winter, if we end

up having a significant surge of

infections.”

“We don’t have the resources to

buy those things. And those pur-

chases need to be made now. They

cannot be made in the fall,” Jha

told reporters.

With new funding in doubt, White House shifts pandemic money to vaccines

DEMETRIUS FREEMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Ashish Jha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator,

and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a briefing on June 2.

BY YASMEEN ABUTALEB

AND ANDREW JEONG

Moderna said it will seek au-
thorization for an updated coro-
navirus vaccine designed to pro-
tect against omicron subvariants
that the company described as
its “lead candidate” for a fall
booster, but it remains unclear
how effective the shot will be
against the latest versions of the
omicron variant spreading in
the United States.

Preliminary data released by

the company on Wednesday

showed that its omicron-target-

ing coronavirus booster candi-

date produced 1.75 times as

many neutralizing antibodies

against the version of omicron

that circulated over the winter,

known as BA.1, compared with

its existing vaccine.

But the omicron variant has

mutated so quickly that several

new subvariants have emerged

that are even better at evading

the immune system’s defenses.

Two of those, known as BA.4 and

BA.5, are now responsible for 13

percent of new coronavirus cas-

es in the United States, the

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention said in new esti-

mates. It is unclear whether

BA.4 and BA.5 will become dom-

inant in the coming months or

whether existing immunity in

the population from infections

and vaccinations will curb their

spread.

Biden administration officials

have said they are preparing for

a fall and winter wave that could

see 100 million coronavirus in-

fections and a potentially s ignifi-

cant number of deaths, driven b y

omicron subvariants. That

makes it even more critical that

more effective v accines are avail-

able, particularly to protect the

elderly and most vulnerable.

Moderna executives said on a

call Wednesday that they are

confident the updated vaccine

would still provide additional

protection against newer omi-

cron subvariants, even though

researchers tested its booster

dose against BA.1. Even if the

updated booster provides less

protection against later omicron

subvariants than against BA.1, it

will probably still be more effec-

tive against them than the com-

pany’s existing booster, Moderna

President Stephen Hoge said.

“We’re pretty confident this

vaccine is going to provide a

benefit even against the family

of omicron subvariants,” Hoge

said on a briefing call with

reporters.

Soon after the omicron vari-

ant was identified in South Afri-

ca late last year, Moderna said it

was developing shots specifical-

ly designed to fight the variant.

Pfizer and BioNTech announced

the same plan, although they

have not yet released data on

their updated vaccine.

Data from the recent clinical

trial, which involved 437 partici-

pants, showed that Moderna’s

omicron-targeting booster

would probably provide longer-

lasting protection against vari-

ants a month afterward, com-

pared with earlier versions of its

coronavirus vaccine, Moderna

said.

The booster “was generally

well-tolerated,” with side effects

comparable to those from earlier

boosters, the company said.

The White House for several

months has pressed C ongress for

more than $20 billion for the

coronavirus response. Lawmak-

ers have yet to approve new

funding.

The official count of new daily

coronavirus infections is slowly

climbing in the United States,

although the actual numbers are

believed to be far higher because

so many people are testing them-

selves at home. The country

recorded a 38 percent uptick in

new cases during the past week,

according to figures compiled by

The Washington Post, as protec-

tion from booster shots and pre-

vious infections wanes and more

people go about their lives with-

out masks.

Globally, n ew c oronavirus cas-

es are still declining after the

omicron variant triggered tens

of millions of new cases world-

wide, driving up infections dur-

ing the winter.

Moderna is pursuing authorization of an omicron-specific booster shot

It is unclear how well

it will protect against

newest subvariants

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