President Joe Biden has suggested that the government would need more money to prepare for another “pandemic” during his remarks about vaccinating children against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).
“We do need more money. But we don’t just need more money for vaccines for children, eventually. We need more money to plan for the second pandemic, there’s gonna be another pandemic,” he said during a White House press conference on Tuesday, June 21, in response to a question about how many children can be vaccinated before funding is needed for the shots.
The question follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s authorization of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA-based COVID vaccines for children from six months to six years, despite these children being at “little to no risk” from the virus.
“I encourage every leader to ask yourself, what more can I do? How can we work more closely together to help more people? How can we save more lives?” Biden appealed during his pre-recorded remarks.
The U.S. has already surpassed one million COVID deaths, with Biden urging Americans not to grow numb from the situation and remain vigilant against the pandemic itself. He also ordered federal flags to be flown at half staff to mark the grim milestone.
“Now is the time for us to act, all of us together. We all must do more, we must honor those we have lost by doing everything we can to prevent as many deaths as possible,” he said, adding that the U.S. is now at a new stage in fighting the pandemic and is facing an evolving set of challenges.
Hellbound and Down 