Dr. Jha urges Congress to fund 'new generation' of COVID vaccines for possible fall surge

Dr. Ashish Jha said without COVID-19 funding and new treatments and diagnostics, it will be much harder to protect Americans from variants

The Biden administration is planning for a likely wave of COVID-19 infections this fall and winter by ensuring both a “new generation” of vaccines and access to treatment and testing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on Sunday — but he stressed that plan depended on congressional funding.

“And we have the resources," Jha told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "One of the reasons I've been talking a lot about the need for Congress to step up and fund this effort is if they don't, Martha, we will go into the fall and winter without that next generation of vaccines, without treatments and diagnostics. That's going to make it much, much harder for us to take care of and protect Americans."

Jha has been urging lawmakers to approve President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $22.5 billion in COVID funding, warning that the nation has spent nearly all of the money dedicated to the pandemic in the $1.9-trillion American Rescue Plan.

This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.