President Biden (Oliver Contreras/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images)

Biden looks for $9B+ in new Covid funds as Sen­ate pass­es res­o­lu­tion to end emer­gency de­c­la­ra­tion

The lame duck ses­sion is here and the Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion yes­ter­day asked Con­gress for $9.25 bil­lion in new Covid-19 fund­ing for vac­cines, treat­ments and tests even as Pres­i­dent Biden’s Covid-19 co­or­di­na­tor said ear­li­er this week that this win­ter like­ly won’t come with a big surge of new in­fec­tions.

Re­pub­li­cans have spurned three pre­vi­ous re­quests by this ad­min­is­tra­tion for emer­gency Covid funds. The new funds would help to cre­ate Op­er­a­tion Warp Speed 2.0, dubbed “Project Covid Shield,” that would help to de­vel­op next-gen vac­cines and treat­ments as three vari­ants — BA. 5, BQ.1.1 and B.Q.1 — make up more than 70% of US in­fec­tions, ac­cord­ing to the CDC. Biden is al­so call­ing for more funds for the glob­al Covid fight, in ad­di­tion to $750 mil­lion to fight HIV, he­pati­tis C and mon­key­pox.

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