The Biden administration plans to invest $5 billion in a program to develop the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, including nasal sprays that could thwart transmission and shots that protect against a range of coronaviruses.
The idea behind “Project Next Gen” is to keep the pandemic at bay with tools that remain effective against a mutating virus, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the effort.
“It’s been very clear to us that the market on this is moving very slowly,” Ashish Jha, the White House coronavirus coordinator, told the newspaper. “There’s a lot that government can do, the administration can do, to speed up those tools.”
The Biden effort is a sequel of sorts to the Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed,” which used government support to speed private-sector development of the original COVID-19 vaccines.
The new project would rebrand the effort for a new administration while looking farther afield than COVID-19, including a long-sought “pan-coronavirus” vaccine that could thwart a range of pathogens.
Beyond COVID-19, the original SARS outbreak in 2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, in the last decade have sparked concern about coronaviruses.
The White House said its project will focus on two other areas related to COVID-19: the development of long-lasting monoclonal antibody treatments, after viral mutations made some of the drugs ineffective; and mucosal vaccines that could reduce the risk of infection and transmission of the virus.
Many people were disappointed to learn the available COVID-19 vaccines were far better at preventing severe disease than any infection at all. They said vaccines typically prevent someone from catching a disease.
Scientists think some nasal sprays could attack the virus where it enters the body — namely, the nose — though effective versions haven’t been developed yet.
The Department of Health and Human Services redirected $5 billion that was earmarked for testing and other initiatives, according to the Post, a decision that might attract scrutiny from Republican lawmakers who thought virus funds ran dry.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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