| Happy Tuesday — and if you're wondering if cherry blossoms are in peak bloom, we've got an answer. Send photos and tips to rachel.roubein@washpost.com 🌸 Today's edition: The Biden administration's new normal could face its first stress test. Abortion rights groups have a new strategy to try and block Texas's strict abortion ban. But first … | Congress isn't ready to shell out more funds for a second booster shot |  The White House says it might not be able to fund a fourth coronavirus shot for Americans. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images) | | | Americans could become eligible for a fourth coronavirus shot. But administration officials say they don't have the cash for such a campaign for everyone, if one is authorized. The White House lacks the dollars to buy a potential fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine for all Americans, as other countries place their own orders, Dan Diamond, Yasmeen Abutaleb and your Health 202 host report this morning. Yet, there's no sign of Congress' stalemate over coronavirus aid ending any time soon. Upping the ante is a looming decision from the Food and Drug Administration over a potential second booster shot. Just last week … Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, asked the agency to greenlight the additional vaccine for people 65 and over. Moderna sought sign-off on a second booster for all adults 18 and older, though some experts question whether another dose is needed for the general public. | - Federal officials say they have secured enough fourth doses for Americans aged 65 and older, as well as the initial regimen for children under 5, if regulators authorize such shots.
- But they say they need more dollars in order to purchase vaccines for other age groups.
| | | | | | | 1,000 Americans slip from mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease every day. There's no time to waste. Medicare must cover FDA-approved treatments now. | | | |  | | | | | While it's not yet clear whether a fourth shot is necessary for everyone, placing orders in advance is crucial, officials say. Concerns are growing among White House officials that vaccine makers will prioritize orders other countries are already making. And more dollars are also needed to invest in shots targeting specific variants, if they become necessary, officials add. | - "Vaccines don't just appear when you snap your fingers and say, 'Okay, I want the vaccine.' We've got to make it," a senior administration official told Dan.
| | But how many doses are needed? Analysts at the Kaiser Family Foundation dug into this question, per Dan. They confirmed that the United States would need to buy about 750 million more shots to ensure every American could get a fourth dose, according to Jen Kates, who leads global health policy for the organization and previewed an analysis to be published later this week. | | But don't expect more money from Congress to come quickly. House lawmakers are in their home districts this week, and negotiators haven't settled on a new way of paying for billions in new pandemic funds. This comes after lawmakers stripped pandemic aid out of the long-term government funding bill after some House Democrats denounced one of the key financing mechanisms. As of Monday evening, several top Republicans said they were still seeking a fuller accounting of how trillions of dollars in past coronavirus aid have been spent. Some are questioning the administration's call to action last week. | - "The basic thing we ought to figure out is, is there a need?" said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Secondly, if there's a need, where's all the money we appropriated?"
| | Other Republicans said they were still waiting on detailed answers to questions around critical supplies. | - "Before I know how many they own today — how many vaccines, how many tests, how many therapeutics — it's hard for me to assess whether they need more," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee. Burr added that he doesn't believe he's received that information yet, unless it arrived over the weekend.
| | But senior administration officials counter that they've been engaging with lawmakers for weeks about what they believe to be at stake. And they argue that emergency funding shouldn't need to be paid for, pointing to Congress' previous efforts to provide coronavirus relief without offsetting the new dollars. | | |  | Readers help us | | | The Post is looking to speak with families with a child currently struggling with suicide. Your story can help us understand this difficult issue. We recognize this is a sensitive topic and respect your privacy. We won't publish any part of your response without contacting you first and getting your permission. Here's how to share your story with us. | | |  | Coronavirus | | Plans to ease pubic health measures could complicate future decisions |  Under CDC guidelines, most Americans can go without masks. (John Locher/AP) | | | The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new metrics last month designed to give pandemic-weary Americans a break from public health measures when cases dip. But the new framework could face a critical test, our colleagues Lena H. Sun and Yasmeen Abutaleb report. Some experts worry the new metrics won't alert communities in time to take action to prevent a future surge. And even if they do, it's an open question as to whether officials will put mitigation measures back in place. Key context: Biden health officials said the United States will likely experience an increase in cases in the coming weeks due to the highly transmissible BA.2 omicron subvariant currently surging across Europe. | - The CDC's new metrics anticipate the burden of severe disease on local hospitals through incorporating county data on covid-19 hospital admissions, as well as case counts.
| | Meanwhile, the country's most vulnerable contend that the new metrics leave their health out of the equation. Some experts said the framework shifts the burden of protection almost entirely to individuals — especially those who are immunocompromised and families with unvaccinated young children. | - "Science doesn't provide all the answers," Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a former acting CDC director, told Lena and Yasmeen. "The frustration that people are feeling, this sense that some people are feeling liberation and joy, and others are feeling a sense of fear and abandonment, I totally get that."
| | Jonathan Reiner — professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University — on other early detection methods: |  | | | | | Abraar Karan, physician and fellow at Stanford's division of infectious diseases and geographic medicine: |  | | | | FDA advisory panel to weigh the future of boosters | | The FDA announced yesterday that it will convene a panel of independent advisers on April 6 to discuss considerations for future coronavirus booster doses. The meeting is aimed at helping the FDA create a general framework to decide, 1) what might warrant updating the composition of covid-19 vaccines to address specific variants, and 2) the timing and populations for who might receive a vaccine booster in the coming months. No vote is planned, and there won't be any discussion of product-specific applications. | - "Now is the time to discuss the need for future boosters as we aim to move forward safely, with COVID-19 becoming a virus like others such as influenza that we prepare for, protect against, and treat," Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.
| | |  | Reproductive wars | | Texas abortion groups could soon get their day in court |  Abortion rights supporters march outside the Texas Capitol. (Sergio Flores/The Washington Post) | | | A group of antiabortion lawyers accused two Texas abortion rights groups of funding abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. They filed requests in court for more information, then wrote on Twitter that anyone who helped fund abortions through these groups "could get sued," The Post's Caroline Kitchener reports. | - "Now, abortion rights groups think those threats may have opened the door to something that has eluded them ever since the law took effect in September: a viable path for a legal challenge," Caroline writes.
| - The Texas law has withstood numerous court challenges because it employs private citizens to sue anyone who helps facilitate the procedure after the state's legal limit.
- So opponents of the law haven't had a clear figure to sue for trying to enforce S.B. 8, which they say violates the constitutional rights of both people seeking abortions and those providing the procedure.
- But now, abortion funds — which raise money to help low-income patients seeking abortion care — argued in several lawsuits that the groups targeting them on social media have identified themselves as the ones enforcing the law.
| | The Lilith Fund and the North Texas Equal Access Fund are suing the America First Legal Foundation and Thomas More Society in federal court, as well as two private citizens in state court. What we're watching: The case filed by the abortion funds opens a potential pathway to the Supreme Court that would present the justices an opportunity to rule on the merits of the law itself instead of issues about who has the grounds to sue, lawyers told The Post. | | |  | In other health news | | - Pfizer will supply UNICEF up to 4 million treatment courses of its covid-19 antiviral pill to 95 low- and middle-income countries, the drugmaker announced this morning.
- People previously infected with covid-19 are 46 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes or be prescribed medication to control their blood sugar, The Post's Lenny Bernstein reports, citing a large review of patient records released yesterday.
- Health officials told House lawmakers it would be two years before the CDC publicly posts data on the prevalence of long covid-19, Bloomberg Law reports.
- In Rhode Island: Attorney General Peter Neronha said Monday the state had reached settlements totaling more than $100 million against the drugmakers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Allergan over their alleged role in fueling the local opioid epidemic.
| | |  | Sugar rush | | | Thanks for reading! See y'all tomorrow. | |
