White House warning of 'unacceptable tradeoffs' on Covid-19 response amid congressional inaction

The White House issued a new warning to Congress Wednesday on the continued urgent need for Covid-19 funding, highlighting new 'unacceptable tradeoffs' as it reallocates and reprioritizes remaining funding toward new vaccines in the absence of congressional action. 'Due to a lack of additional funding,' a White House official told CNN in a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services 'is now forced to pull funds from other essential elements of our response to meet some basic Covid-19 response needs.' The official continued, 'This will allow the US to get in line to procure some additional lifesaving vaccines for the fall, including next-generation vaccines if available, and procure additional lifesaving treatments.'