President Joe Biden has announced he has asked for funding from Congress to fund the rollout of a new COVID-19 vaccine starting as early as this year, adding that this new vaccine ‘works’.
When asked if he can provide information on the new vaccine, Biden responded to reporters confidently.
“Yes, I can,” the president said. “I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works.”
Biden added that everyone in America will be recommended to take the vaccine regardless of where they stand in their current vaccination status.
“Tentatively it is recommended that it will likely be recommended everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not,” he added.
The White House did ask Congress for $40 million in funding on August 11th, but that funding request did not mention anything about COVID-19 vaccines, instead earmarked more money for Ukraine and funding for border security.
Last September, Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic as over.
In June, Pfizer applied for the approval of a new vaccine that targets the XBB.1.5 strain of the COVID-19 virus.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have submitted regulatory applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine. The submission targets approval for individuals 6 months of age and older and follows the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) guidance.
Omicron XBB sublineages currently make up the majority of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. They are more antigenically distant from prior SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron BA.4/BA.5 and the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. While existing vaccines offer some protection against various COVID-19 outcomes related to XBB, evidence suggests that vaccines tailored to current sublineages can improve protection against symptomatic disease and severe COVID-19.
The applications are based on a comprehensive set of clinical, pre-clinical, and real-world evidence backing the safety and efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccines. They include data indicating that the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted vaccine generates better responses against circulating XBB sublineages compared to the current Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine.