Administration warns Congress: Zika money running out
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration warned Congress Wednesday that money to fight the Zika virus is on the verge of running out amid political stalemate on Capitol Hill.
In a letter to key lawmakers, the secretary of Health and Human Services said the National Institutes of Health would exhaust its resources for vaccine development by month's end.
The letter from HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said that without additional money the second phase of clinical trials would be delayed, and Americans would have to wait longer for a vaccine.
Congress gridlocked over President Barack Obama's $1.9 billion emergency spending request after House Republicans added language on Planned Parenthood and other issues that was unacceptable to Democrats.
On Monday, the CDC instructed pregnant women to avoid the neighborhood, marking what is believed to be the first time in the agency's 70-year history that it warned people not to travel somewhere in the U.S. The Zika virus can cause severe brain-related defects, including disastrously small heads.