Washington Free Beacon
Bureaucratic inertia has plagued the American pandemic response—and the latest development shows it’s ongoing.
The United Kingdom on Monday became the first country to approve a vaccine that targets new variants of the coronavirus—the second time that Britain has authorized a U.S.-made COVID vaccine before the United States.
The vaccine in question, manufactured by Moderna, targets both the original virus and the Omicron variant. It is “a sharpened tool in our armory to help protect us against this disease,” June Raine, the head of Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said in a statement.
It is also a key part of the Biden administration’s plan to roll out updated boosters in September. But the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the new shot, even as health officials warn that the United States could see as many as 100 million coronavirus cases this fall.
