Health Care — COVID boosters will be annual, says White House

Happy anniversary to one of the coolest moments in baseball history: 27 years ago today, Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played.  

In health news, the White House is planning COVID-19 boosters to be an annual event, like flu shots.  

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

White House: Public will need annual boosters

Top White House health officials indicated Tuesday that the public is likely to need annual COVID-19 booster shots, making this year’s updated booster similar to an annual flu shot. 

“It is becoming increasingly clear that, looking forward with the COVID-19 pandemic, in the absence of a dramatically different variant, we likely are moving towards a path of vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual updated COVID-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population,” Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious diseases doctor, said during a briefing.  

Selling point: The messaging from the White House is an attempt to sell the public on the benefits of the variant-specific booster dose that was authorized last week.  

Barring any “variant curveballs,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha said he expects new boosters “will provide better protection against infection, better protection against transmission and ongoing and better protection against serious illness.” 

Mixed signals? Administration officials say the new vaccines will be key to controlling a potential fall surge, but they will need to convince an increasingly checked-out public to get the shots. Demand for vaccines has waned with each subsequent booster campaign. 

The White House is simultaneously projecting that COVID-19 is now a disease that is a part of everyday life while also urging people to be vaccinated.  

Read more here. 

Feds stress need for new COVID funding 

The boosters will be free, but there’s no money for much more. 

• White House officials on Tuesday reiterated calls for new COVID-19 response funding to be approved by Congress as the fall vaccination campaign begins, with officials warning that there are currently not enough resources to respond should a new surge emerge. 
• White House officials like COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra warned about the consequences of Congress failing to allocate more money. 

“Congress is aware that if we do not continue to fund the response, things … can easily go backwards,” Jha said.  

Becerra, however, remained vague on whether there are enough updated vaccine doses available…