US Announces $1.7 Billion To Fight Covid Variants

The funding comes from a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package passed last month and will help the United States come up to speed on genomic surveillance, an area in which it has lagged behind badly relative to other advanced countries.

The administration of President Joe Biden on Friday announced it would spend $1.7 billion to improve its ability to sequence the coronavirus for genetic changes, as new and potentially dangerous variants are poised to dominate the pandemic. The funding comes from a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package passed last month and will help the United States come up to speed on genomic surveillance, an area in which it has lagged behind badly relative to other advanced countries. "In early February, US laboratories were only sequencing about 8,000 COVID-19 strains per week," a White House statement said, adding that thanks to an initial $200 million investment, the rate was now 29,000 samples a week. The new funding includes $1 billion to expand federal and state capacity to expand genomic surveillance; $400 million to set up six cutting-edge research centers; and $300 million to build a national IT system for sharing and analyzing data.