President Joe Biden will request more money from Congress to develop another new coronavirus vaccine, he told reporters on Friday.
“As a matter of fact, 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 ne- — necessary — that works. And tentatively — not decided finally yet — tentatively, it is recommended that — it will likely be recommended that everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not,” he said to reporters while on another vacation, this time near Lake Tahoe.
No reporter allowed in the gaggle of reporters followed up with a question about how much he has requested of Congress.
Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax are already developing updated shots for the omicron strain called XBB.1.5. These new shots will require Food and Drug Administration approval and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorization. It’s unclear if Biden is asking to pay for these shots or if an entirely new technology is being developed that everyone will be pushed to get.
Earlier this month, infectious disease experts began to shift messaging, telling the public that those who are in the low-risk category and who don’t have consistent interaction with high-risk people, should wait for an updated shot.
In Alaska, 535,718 people or 73% of Alaskans have received at least one dose of the current vaccinations available for Covid. Overall, 477,592, or 65% of Alaska’s population, are considered to be fully vaccinated.
Some 178 cases of Covid in Alaska were reported the week of July 30-Aug. 5.
Over all, 1,457 people in Alaska have died with the Covid virus, and the official report is that Covid killed them, although they may have had other conditions that were partly to blame.
The total case count in the state since the start of the pandemic is roughly 287,319, although likely higher due to many Alaskans not reporting that they survived Covid.
