‘Project Next Gen’ Aims To Expedite Vaccines To Combat Future Coronaviruses

The Washington Post: White House Launches $5B Program To Speed Covid Vaccine Development 
The Biden administration is launching a $5 billion-plus program to accelerate development of new coronavirus vaccines and treatments, seeking to better protect against a still-mutating virus, as well as other coronaviruses that might threaten us in the future. “Project Next Gen” — the long-anticipated follow-up to “Operation Warp Speed,” the Trump-era program that sped coronavirus vaccines to patients in 2020 — would take a similar approach to partnering with private-sector companies to expedite development of vaccines and therapies. Scientists, public heath experts and politicians have called for the initiative, warning that existing therapies have steadily lost their effectiveness and that new ones are needed. (Diamond, 4/10)

The national covid emergency has ended, but not the health emergency —

CNN: Biden Signs Bill Ending Covid-19 National Emergency
President Joe Biden signed legislation Monday to end the national emergency for Covid-19, the White House said, in a move that will not affect the end of the separate public health emergency scheduled for May 11. A White House official downplayed the impact of the bill, saying the termination of the emergency “does not impact our ability to wind down authorities in an orderly way.” The bill to end the national emergency cleared the Senate last month in a bipartisan 68-23 vote and passed the House earlier this year with 11 Democrats crossing party lines to vote for the joint resolution. (Carvajal, 4/10)

Politico: Biden Signs Bill Ending Covid-19 National Emergency 
Ending the national emergency will end the use of some waivers for federal health programs meant to help health care providers during the height of the pandemic. The law Biden signed Monday did not affect the public health emergency, which is still set to expire in May — along with the Trump-era Title 42 border policy. (Garrity, 4/10)

More on the spread of covid —

Fortune: ‘Arcturus,’ A Highly Transmissible COVID Variant Eyed By The WHO, Appears To Have A New Symptom. Here's What You Need To Know 
A new COVID variant the World Health Organization has its eye on seems to be causing a new symptom in children rarely caused by other Omicron spawn: “Itchy” conjunctivitis—or pink eye—without pus, but with “sticky eyes." (Prater, 4/10)

Capital & Main: Working Sick: Americans With Long COVID Struggle To Make A Living
Last year the CDC estimated that 7.5% of the adult U.S. population, or about 19 million people, had long COVID, and that 20% of adults 18-64 who recovered from their initial COVID infection have experienced at least one health condition that may be attributable to long COVID. Long COVID was recognized as a disability by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2021. But specific help for sufferers, or “long haulers,” in the workplace — including flexible hours, sick leave and the ability to work from home — depends on the generosity of the employer. And nearly half of workers with long COVID say their employers either didn’t offer paid sick leave or weren’t making workplace accommodations for their illness, according to a report released last year. Without policies like paid time off for illness, American workers face a financial burden to the tune of more than $500 billion, according to a report by the Solve Long Covid Initiative. (Buhl, 4/10)

CIDRAP: Meta-Analysis Reveals Wide Range Of Persistent Long-COVID Psychiatric Symptoms 
A meta-analysis of 23 studies reveals that the psychiatric symptoms of long COVID were, from most to least prevalent, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), poor sleep, hyperfocus on symptoms (somatic disorder), impaired cognition, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Women and those with a history of psychiatric diagnoses were at greater risk for these symptoms. The investigation was published late last week in PLoS One. (Van Beusekom, 4/10)