US Democrat Senators call for $25 billion coronavirus vaccine funding

In the USA, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (Democrat: New York) and Senator Patty Murray (Democrat: Washington), the top Democrat on the Senate Health Committee, released a white paper on Monday saying the Trump Administration needs to do more to ensure safe and effective vaccines for the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic sweeping the country.

They are calling for $25 billion in funding to be included in the next coronavirus response package, expected to be put together later this month, as well as policy changes.

The lawmakers say the COVID-19 poses an unprecedented threat to public health - in the mere months since SARSCoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was detected in the USA, more than 3.2 million individuals have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and over 135,000 people have died in the USA.