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The Obama administration is shifting $81 million in funds from other programs to cover the costs of Zika research following continuing congressional inaction to combat the spreading disease. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell wrote congressional leaders Thursday to say she'll transfer $34 million away from other National Institutes of Health programs and $47 million from other biometical research programs to temporarily cover a shortfall in Zika funding.
Government scientists have identified the most promising Zika vaccine and have started human trials, but a congressional impasse is forcing them to borrow money intended for crucial work on cancer, diabetes, Ebola and other deadly diseases. In a speech attended by other top Zika experts Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, trod a thin line between describing progress in the Zika fight and pleading for emergency funding held up for months in Congress.
None of the estimated 400,000 refugees who have entered the United States since 2010 were screened for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in their overseas medical screenings, thanks to a change in federal regulations made by the Obama administration that year. Even though all refugees are encouraged to participate in an initial domestic medical screening that does include HIV testing within 90 days of entering the country, no one knows how many HIV positive refugees have arrived in the United States in the subsequent six and a half years, since participation in these screenings is voluntary and a significant percentage of refugees simply choose not to be screened.