(NEW YORK) — As JetBlue prepares to begin its takeover of Spirit Airlines in a $3.8 billion deal, many are left wondering what the future holds for both airlines and their loyal customers.
The JetBlue-Spirit agreement still faces a shareholder vote and regulatory approval, which could prove difficult if federal officials believe the deal would reduce competition and increase fares. Spirit is known for its barebones and deeply discounted fares, while JetBlue is more of a full-service airline.
“I think it’s bad news for travelers,” Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, said in an interview with ABC News. “Competition between airlines is the single biggest determinant of how many cheap flights you see on any given route.”
Keyes said Spirit is an “anchor” in the airfare market and its low fares tend to drive down ticket prices offered by mainline carriers.
“Your Delta fares, your American fares are actually cheaper if they’re on a route where they’re competing with Spirit, because they need to drop those fares to try to compete and get more customers,” Keyes said.
JetBlue’s CEO Robin Hayes said the acquisition could be a “solution to the lack of competition” in the U.S. airline industry, saying in a press release, “Spirit and JetBlue will continue to advance our shared goal of disrupting the industry to bring down fares from the Big Four airlines.”
While experts say the Spirit shareholder vote should pass, JetBlue is expected to face regulatory hurdles.
“[The Department of Justice] will try to model what will happen with one fewer airline. What will that do to route structure, to load factors, capacity and fares,” Ravi Sarathy, professor of International Business and Strategy at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, told ABC News. “And they’ll also try to model whether this will improve overall air quality and flight service quality.”
Sarathy said the merger could help improve JetBlue’s product. With the $3.8 billion purchase, JetBlue would also gain Spirit’s Airbus fleet and its pilot staffing – both in high demand as airlines face the ongoing pilot shortage and delayed aircraft deliveries amid supply chain disruptions.
“The question will be, do Spirit passengers want better service, or are they really more concerned about the lowest possible cost of flying?” Sarathy said. “That remains to be seen.”
JetBlue offers lie-flat seats on some transcontinental routes and to London, while Spirit does not have a first/business class cabin. JetBlue also offers free, seatback in-flight entertainment and snacks; Spirit does not have inflight televisions or free food. It’s unclear how the two airlines would blend their products if a merger is approved.
Spirit shareholders are expected to vote next month on the merger. If that vote passes, a review from the federal government could take months if not years.
(NEW YORK) — Nothing gets New Yorkers steamed like traffic woes and close encounters with the native wildlife — a.k.a. rats. Now the city is considering changes to trash pickup rules that could affect both.
The department says it’s “strongly considering” requiring individual black trash bags to be placed outside after 8 p.m. The city will pick the bags up during overnight hours to minimize time on the street.
“New Yorkers put millions of pounds of trash and recycling on the street starting at 4pm – right as the evening rush is getting underway – and then it stays out, serving as a nightclub for rats and other pests, until it’s collected. Well soon, we’re going to try to shut the club down,” the department said in a statement.
Carve-outs under consideration would apply to most commercial and residential buildings.
Residential building owners would be permitted to put their trash out at 6 p.m., to conform to daytime maintenance staffing, as long as they place the trash in a bin with a secure lid.
Businesses would be permitted to put their trash out in the hour before closing for the day, to minimize staffing disruption, as long as the trash is also in bins with secure lids. For many businesses, that would be in the 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. hour
For their part, the sanitation department will shift to picking up more trash in the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, prioritizing the single bags. That will also help get the sanitation vehicles off the roads earlier, easing street traffic during the morning commute.
The aim is for residents, particularly those using individual black bags, to try to put their trash out later at night and for sanitation to try to pick it up earlier in the morning, which will help ease the rats and the traffic concurrently.
The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 owners of more than 1 million apartments in the five boroughs, told ABC News the policy will likely not eliminate the rat issue entirely.
“This is not going to alleviate the city’s rat problem,” a spokesperson for the association said. “Rats aren’t on a feeding schedule.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jul 29, 2:53 PM EDT
Blinken speaks with Lavrov, pushes him to accept ‘substantial proposal’ from US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday. Blinken said he pushed Lavrov to accept the “substantial proposal” the U.S. put forth to free detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
This marked the first time the two leaders spoke since the war began.
Blinken called it “a frank and direct conversation.”
“I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,” he said. “I’m not going to characterize his responses and I can’t give you an assessment of whether I think things are more or less likely.”
On Russia’s stated plans to annex parts of Ukraine, Blinken said he told Lavrov that “those plans will never be accepted. The world will not recognize annexations. We will pose additional significant costs on Russia if it moves forward with its plans.”
Blinken did reaffirm that their call did not cover brokering peace in Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, tragically, we’ve seen no opening–willingness on the part of Russia to engage meaningfully on ending the aggression,” Blinken lamented. “At the same time, I’ve also said that if there are issues where we could make a difference in senior Russians hearing directly from me or from colleagues, we would of course, pursue that.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the conversation and said it was initiated by the U.S.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said, “Regarding the possible exchange of imprisoned citizens of Russia and the United States, the Russian side is urged to return to the mode of professional, without speculative information stuffing, dialogue in the mode of ‘quiet diplomacy.'”
White House spokesperson John Kirby said Friday, “We very much tried to keep details of the negotiations of this nature as private as possible so that we can allow as much space for negotiators to come to a successful conclusion. We felt that in the context of what was happening in both Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan’s cases, as well as what was not happening, that it was important to lay out publicly that there was, in fact, a serious offer made by the American side that has not been acted on.”
Jul 29, 2:12 PM EDT
White House doesn’t consider fighting in eastern Ukraine ‘stalled’
The U.S. doesn’t consider fighting in eastern Ukraine “stalled,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday.
“I don’t believe we consider what’s going on in the Donbas is stalled,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “There’s a lot of activity still going on in the Donbas.”
He did note that over the last “48 to 72 hours, there has not been that many significant changes in the battle lines” in the east and the south.
“It can be true that in some places in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Russians appear to be taking a knee, refitting, refreshing, moving troops around,. And in other places in the east and in the south, there’s actual battle going on between Russian and Ukrainian forces,” Kirby said.
“There are units that are in actual contact with one another, and there are days where the Russians make a mile or two, and then there are days when the Ukrainians push them back a mile or two. And there’s days when the Ukrainians are going on the counter-offensive on a tactical level and then they will stop to reconsider their next move,” he said.
Jul 29, 8:28 AM EDT
US ambassador to Ukraine speaks to ABC News as grain ships prepare to leave
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink told ABC News on Friday morning that she is “optimistic” ships carrying grain will begin leaving Ukraine this weekend, but that it’s up to Russia to keep its side of the deal.
During an interview in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, Brink told ABC News there is currently “no obstacle” to the ships’ departure.
“Ukraine is ready to ship this grain, but it’s also up to Russia to agree on the grain corridor and the ships will be ready to go,” Brink said. “It can be done, it should be done and, in fact, it must be done.”
She declined to say whether the United States would impose consequences on Russia if it disrupted the United Nations-brokered deal or attacked the ships. But she underlined her country’s support for Ukraine and the deal, saying it was important that Ukrainian grain starts reaching countries that need it.
“Twenty-four hours after the deal was agreed a week ago today, Russia bombed this very port where we’re standing,” Brink noted. “So I think it’s imperative on Russia to live up to its commitments and to implement the agreement it signed onto, and imperative on all of us to ensure that Russia lives up to those commitments.”
When asked if there was a “Plan B” if the deal failed, Brink said the focus was on doing everything to ensure “Plan A” works.
Earlier Friday, Brink and ambassadors of other G-7 countries held a press conference in Odesa while overseeing the preparations. She told reporters that she hopes an agreement confirming the safe corridors of the grain ships to sail through this weekend would be reached. Under the deal, Ukraine and Russia have been negotiating the precise routes the vessels will take across the Black Sea.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but Kyiv has been unable to ship exports due to Moscow’s offensive. Last month, the Ukrainian Grain Association warned that Ukraine’s wheat harvest is expected to plummet by 40%.
In recent weeks, there has been an all-out push from the U.S. and the U.N. to facilitate exports from war-torn Ukraine, desperate to offset what they foretell is a looming global food crisis with the potential to devastate the developing world. A Russian blockade in the Black Sea, along with Ukrainian naval mines, have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible and, as a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Jul 29, 7:11 AM EDT
Ukraine says 1st grain ships should leave this weekend
Ukraine announced Friday that it hopes the first ships carrying grain will finally be leaving two ports this weekend under a United Nations-brokered deal to end Russia’s blockade.
The departure of the first ships will be a major test of whether the deal with Moscow will hold and Ukrainian food can begin to ease the global hunger crisis worsened by the blockade amid Russia’s war.
Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksander Kubrakov, who is overseeing the operation, told reporters in Odesa on Friday morning that the port as well as the nearby Chernomorsk port are prepared to begin, with 17 ships already loaded with grain.
A final agreement mediated by the U.N. and Turkey needs to be signed off on the routes the vessels will take out of the heavily mined ports. Kubrakov said Ukraine had provided a number of options and that, from its side, the country is ready. Ukraine is waiting for the U.N. to confirm the routes are accepted by both sides.
Kubrakov said the first ships should leave by the end of the weekend.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also in Odesa on Friday morning to see the preparations and meet with Kubrakov as well as other officials, including U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Jul 27, 2:51 PM EDT
Blinken and Lavrov to discuss US proposal to free Griner and Whelan
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he plans to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the coming days, marking the first time the two leaders will speak since the war began.
Blinken said a critical topic of discussion would be securing the freedom of detained Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, revealing that the U.S. has already put forward a plan to accomplish that.
“We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal, and I’ll use the conversation to follow up personally and I hope move us toward a resolution,” Blinken said.
“I can’t and won’t get into any of the details of what we’ve proposed to the Russians over the course of some many weeks now,” Blinken said.
Blinken said President Joe Biden played an active role in crafting the proposal for Griner and Whelan.
Blinken also stressed, “My call with Foreign Minister Lavrov will not be a negotiation about Ukraine,” adding, “Any negotiation regarding Ukraine is for its government and people to determine.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jul 27, 9:32 AM EDT
Ukraine uses US rocket system to strike key bridge in Russia-held Kherson
Ukrainian forces struck a strategic bridge in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson early Wednesday, according to local officials.
High-precision missile strikes by the Ukrainian military damaged the Antonivskiy bridge, forcing the occupied authorities to close the structure to civilian traffic. The mile-long bridge across the Dnieper River is an essential artery used by Moscow to supply its troops occupying southern Ukraine.
“Strikes were delivered on the bridge, on its road. The bridge is currently closed to the civilian population,” Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Moscow-appointed administration for the Kherson region, told local media on Wednesday.
The bridge’s pillars and spans were still intact as of Wednesday morning, according to Stremousov.
“It is simply that the number of holes on the road has increased. The strike on the bridge has affected only the civilian population,” he added.
According to Stremousov, Ukrainian forces hit the bridge with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) supplied by the United States. He said ferry crossings across the Dnieper River will be organized during the bridge’s restoration, and that traffic will resume in the near future.
“We have prepared a pontoon bridge. We have a ferry link,” he told local media.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian military officials said the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war has surpassed 40,000, just more than five months after Russia launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in late February.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol and Yuriy Zaliznyak
(NEW YORK) — “A lot of people” remain unaccounted for amid devastating flooding in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday.
“We’re going to do our best to find them all,” Beshear said, without providing a number of the missing.
Beshear toured the devastation by helicopter on Friday and called it the worst flooding he’s seen since being in office.
The official death toll stands at 16, including two children.
Beshear said Friday afternoon that he’s learned of the recovery of four children’s bodies, adding, “We do not have an official update at this time as they have to be verified” by the Department for Public Health.
The governor anticipated that authorities may be updating the number of deceased for “several weeks.”
On Thursday, Beshear called it “one of the worst, most devastating” floods in the state’s history and said he anticipates this will be one of the deadliest floods in Kentucky in “a very long time.”
The flooding hit Kentucky late Wednesday, pounding the state with 2 to 5 inches of rain.
Kentucky is combating washed out roads, destroyed homes and flooded schools, according to the governor.
Thousands of residents are expected to lose their homes, he said.
More than 294 people have been rescued from floodwaters in eastern Kentucky so far and that number will likely rise, Beshear said.
The rain may return to Kentucky late Sunday through early next week, but significant rainfall isn’t expected.
“While rain totals are not expected to be as high, flooding still remains a concern due to saturated grounds,” the governor tweeted.
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration and is receiving updates “very regularly,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.
“Our hearts break for the families of those who have lost their lives or are missing, and to all those who have been impacted,” she said.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul, Kenton Gewecke, Josh Hoyos, Justin Ryan Gomez and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Bullet for My Valentine has shared a new song called “No More Tears to Cry.”
The tune is one of the five bonus tracks included on the upcoming deluxe version of Bullet’s self-titled 2021 album.
“[‘No More Tears to Cry’] is a dark but colorful story about dealing with mental health struggles,” Bullet says. “Musically, the track is very different from the other tracks on the album and has a lot of surprises on there, including slide guitar.”
You can listen to “No More Tears to Cry” now via digital outlets.
The deluxe Bullet for My Valentine will be released digitally on August 5 and on vinyl November 11.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid the latest COVID-19 resurgence sweeping the nation, some top health officials are asking Americans to wear face masks again in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.
Officials such as White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky have repeatedly encouraged jurisdictions to use the CDC’s community level COVID-19 map, which seeks to identify the risk level of COVID-19 in communities across the country, to help them decide if they should reimplement mitigation measures.
“Local jurisdictions — cities, counties, states — should make decisions about mask mandates because communities are different and their patterns of transmission are different,” Jha told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz last week. “The CDC recommendation is that when you’re in a high zone … wearing masks indoors is really important and it really will make a difference.”
According to the CDC, a high community level suggests there is a “high potential for healthcare system strain” and a “high level of severe disease.”
More than 60% of Americans are now living in a county considered a “high” community level for COVID-19, where masking in indoor settings is therefore recommended by the CDC for all people, no matter their vaccination status.
But calls from the Biden administration’s COVID-19 team have been largely met with silence from local officials, with most cities and jurisdictions choosing to forgo federal guidance.
Although some cities, like Boston and New York City, have released strong recommendations, urging residents to mask again while indoors, no formal mandates have been announced.
In recent weeks, one major U.S. county — Los Angeles — was vocal about a possible return of masking requirements following a steady increase in COVID-19 infections.
However, on Thursday, county health officials announced that with case and hospital admission rates beginning to drop, the return of masking had been scratched.
“Any indication that the committee would soon be moving to the medium community level would be a good reason to not move forward with universal indoor masking, which is what we are doing today,” Barbara Ferrer, the director of Public Health for Los Angeles County, said at a press conference this week. “We will be pausing and not moving forward at this time … the clock is stopped at the moment.”
Some local officials lauded the decision, including L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
“Unenforceable mandates don’t work,” Barger wrote in a statement following the health department’s announcement. “I’m hopeful that we will now be able to move on from this heightened focus on masking mandates to what really matters — focusing on promoting the efficacy of vaccines and boosters, improving access to COVID-19 treatments, and continuing to educate our county’s residents on the benefits of masking.”
Ferrer stressed that residents are still strongly encouraged to wear masks in many indoor settings and should the numbers begin to rise again, the county will revisit a possible mandate.
“[BA.5] remains highly infectious, so I would strongly advise that everyone keep their masks on when there’s risk for that spread,” Ferrer said. “We should be very careful.”
Despite public messaging that “COVID-19 is still with us,” no major states or cities have reintroduced formal mandates. Many Americans have returned to their normal lives without a second thought of pandemic restrictions — a reality that has troubled some health experts.
“I’m concerned about what the lack of restrictions looks like right now. The caseload, which is vastly undercounted, is already creeping up from an unacceptably high plateau of daily cases that has remained in place since the end of the original omicron wave,” Maureen Miller, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told ABC News.
Experts noted that although the U.S. is certainly in a different place now versus the start of the pandemic, periodic use of mitigation measures could still be a way to control the spread of the virus.
“Interventions shouldn’t be all or nothing. They need to be applied in real-time ahead of any surge to help limit transmission in the community and ultimately reduce severe consequences of the virus and limit hospital capacity,” explained John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Policymakers and public health officials should “apply nuance” and “allow for the introduction of targeted intervention” as they consider possible ways to confront the “very likely” fall and winter surge, Brownstein said.
“Surveillance data, when interpreted correctly, should ultimately be the barometer for decisions on bringing back restrictions. Without proactive public health response, we will ultimately just repeat the mistakes of the past,” he added.
In recent weeks, virus-related hospitalizations and deaths have also started to tick up again, though not with the same intensity as previous surges.
“Clearly the lack of current interventions are contributing to a BA.5 surge,” Brownstein said. “While we are not seeing the level of severe disease of the past, it is still driving increases in severe disease.”
The reality that hundreds of Americans are still dying of COVID-19 every day is not something the public should take lightly, stressed Miller.
“COVID-19 infection is not just like a cold. No cold I know kills 400 people a day,” she said. “With the lack of COVID-19 information from health departments around the country and the blaring message that COVID-19 is over, it will be impossible to convince a fatigued and uninformed public of the need for additional mitigation measures.”
Although there are now many more treatments and tools available to treat Americans should they contract COVID, Miller noted that the simplest and effective tools that were available at the onset of the pandemic remain at the public’s disposal: masking and social distancing.
“We experienced the success of this approach in the past. I am doubtful that we will do so in the future,” she said.
The decision not to enforce mitigation measures will only prolong the pandemic, Miller said.
“Our actions are ensuring that the pandemic phase of COVID-19 will last much longer than it has to,” Miller added.
A limited-edition vinyl reissue of David Bowie‘s 1977 album “Heroes”will drop on October 14 in celebration of its 45th anniversary. Pressed on gray vinyl, the reissue will only be available at brick-and-mortar stores.
“Heroes,” Bowie’s 11th studio album, was released in October of ’77 and is best known for its classic title track, which was one of four songs Brian Eno co-wrote on the record. It was released as a single and became a minor hit in the U.K. Though it didn’t chart in the States, it’s become one of Bowie’s most enduring and widely covered tunes. The album peaked at #3 in the U.K. but only reached #35 in the U.S.
The “Heroes” album was the second of what is known as Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy,” which also includes 1977’s Low and 1979’s Lodger, but it’s the only one that he recorded entirely in the German city. The album, which Bowie co-produced with frequent collaborator Tony Visconti, features the same group of musicians who recorded Low, with the addition of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Also on October 14, the mini album Live in Berlin (1978) will be released via digital formats for the first time. The eight-song collection, which was recorded at a May 1978 concert at the Deutschlandhalle in West Berlin, was previously only available as a limited-edition orange vinyl LP, sold in 2018 at the “David Bowie Is…” exhibition in Brooklyn, New York.
The performance included versions of three songs from the “Heroes” album, as well as the Bowie hits “Fame” and “Rebel Rebel.”
Here’s the full “Heroes” track list:
Side 1
“Beauty and the Beast”
“Joe the Lion”
“‘Heroes'”
“Sons of the Silent Age”
“Blackout”
Side 2
“V-2 Schneider”
“Sense of Doubt”
“Moss Garden”
“Neuköln”
“The Secret Life of Arabia”
And here’s the complete Live in Berlin (1978) track list:
“‘Heroes'”
“Be My Wife”
“Blackout”
“Sense of Doubt”
“Breaking Glass”
“Fame”
“Alabama Song”
“Rebel Rebel”
L-R Frewer, Amanda Pays — ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
With reboots of Full House and Roseanne spin-off The Conners on the air now, another Reagan-era series is returning to TV.
Max Headroom was perhaps more famous for actor Matt Frewer‘s intentionally glitchy computer characters gracing Coke commercials back in the day, but now the subversive ABC series that bore his name is getting another shot.
Deadline reports Elijah Wood‘s SpectreVision production house is backing the series for AMC, with Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell writing it.
Max Headroom ran for just two seasons on ABC, with Frewer playing both the supposedly artificially intelligent character and also its alter ego, journalist Edison Carter, but it remained an influential project, referenced in shows like Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., and by music artists including Selena Gomez and Eminem.
Frewer is returning to star in the series and is also co-producing, according to the trade.
Carter’s dogged reporting focused on corruption and corporate greed, and the show continually poked fun at network TV executives and the news business — which naturally rankled actual TV execs. It was also ahead of its time for its then-futuristic look at our modern, interconnected world.
Sammy Hagar and his band The Circle have unveiled plans to release a new studio album titled Crazy Times this fall and made the title track available as an advance digital single Friday, along with a companion music video for the tune.
The 10-song collection, which can be preordered now, will be released on CD and via digital formats on September 30, while standard black vinyl and limited-edition red vinyl LP versions will follow on October 28.
Hagar & The Circle recorded Crazy Times at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb.
Crazy Times, which is a follow-up to the group’s 2019 debut, Space Between, features nine songs either written or co-written by Hagar, as well as a cover of Elvis Costello and the Attraction‘s 1978 classic “Pump It Up.”
The title track was one of three tunes the Red Rocker co-wrote with his Circle bandmates — bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson — and Cobb.
The video for the hard-driving, riff-heavy song features Hagar and the band performing the tune as a montage of explosions and other ominous images appear behind them.
Hagar says that after the long COVID-19 lockdown, he really appreciated getting to work with his bandmates again in person.
“Going back in the studio, creating and being with the music is just what felt natural,” Hagar notes. “There was joy in the hard work, catharsis and the comradery we’d craved. It was like those two years of not being able to do very much fell away and we really all came together and let it out in the music and lyrics.”
The digital version of Crazy Times also features a pair of bonus tracks. Here’s the album’s full track list:
“Intro: The Beginning of the End”
“Slow Drain”
“Feed Your Head”
“Pump It Up”
“Be Still”
“You Get What You Pay For”
“Crazy Times”
“Funky Feng Shui”
“Father Time”
“Childhood’s End”
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is preparing to roll out 171 million newly formulated vaccines this September as part of a $5B effort aimed at trying to blunt the impact of the highly contagious omicron variant.
The effort follows an internal debate among President Joe Biden’s top officials on whether to allow younger Americans to get a fourth shot now or wait until a more effective vaccine is released this fall.
The current vaccine was designed to work against the original strain of COVID. And while it continues to dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalizations and death, its effectiveness has slowly waned as the virus mutated.
As a result, Americans over 50 have already been told to get second booster doses, while younger Americans have been directed to get one additional booster.
Moderna and Pfizer say they now have new formulas of the COVID vaccine that will hopefully hold up better against the omicron variant.
Federal regulators would still need to sign off on the new vaccines. But industry and government officials say they are hopeful Food and Drug Administration will authorize the shots and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will recommend them.
According to two administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, industry officials assured the government that it could deliver the newly formulated shots by September.
At that point, the officials said, the decision was made to hold off on a nationwide rollout of additional boosters for people under age 50.
Overall, the government now has the option to buy 600 million new vaccines that are targeted toward the omicron variant, with plans to deliver 171 million this fall.
Moderna and the government announced Friday a $1.74 billion contract for the manufacture and delivery of 66 million doses and the option to buy another 234 million doses later on.
The government had already agreed to pay $3.2 billion to Pfizer for 105 million doses this fall with the option to buy another 195 million doses later on.
The Biden administration says it’s moved $10 billion around in its current budget to cover the cost of these vaccines and other treatments.
But officials warn that there is a trade-off being made to buy these vaccines so Americans can get them cost-free even without insurance.
According to a statement provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, money has been moved away from testing and ensuring stockpiles of protective gear are ready to go ahead of another pandemic or surge in cases.
