Moderna, COVID-19 vaccine

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on May 22 he expects a U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision on authorizing Moderna’s vaccine for children under age five within the next few weeks.

Health officials are considering extending the eligibility for a second COVID-19 vaccine booster dose to people under 50 amid a steady rise in cases, with the United States seeing a threefold increase over the past month.

U.S. House Democrats on May 17 unveiled a bill to provide $28 million in emergency funds to the Food and Drug Administration to help the regulatory agency respond to a nationwide shortage of infant formula and strengthen supervision of the industry.

Paxlovid

Rising COVID-19 cases are driving up the use of therapeutics, with Pfizer Inc.’s oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid seeing a 315 percent jump over the past four weeks, U.S. health officials said on May 17.

U.S. House Democrats on May 17 unveiled a bill to provide $28 million to the Food and Drug Administration to help respond to a nationwide shortage of infant formula.

The United States will allow baby formula imports from foreign makers that do not usually sell their products here, the Food and Drug Administration said on May 16, as it tries to ease a nationwide shortage that has left parents scrambling to feed their babies.

U.S. Capitol dome, Congress, Anerican flag

As the fairness of orphan drug exclusivities is debated in Congress, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Orphan Drug designations to Editas Medicine and Neurocrine Biosciences.

North Korea’s admission that it is battling an “explosive” COVID-19 outbreak raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities, and no vaccine program.

At least one person confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in North Korea and hundreds of thousands have shown fever symptoms, state media said on May 13, offering hints at the potentially dire scale of the country’s first confirmed outbreak of the pandemic.

The White House is preparing for a scenario in which Congress fails to approve President Joe Biden’s request for additional COVID funds by reviewing old contracts to see if there is any money it can “claw back,” the president’s top COVID adviser said on May 12.