Obama sidesteps deadlocked Congress to fund Zika fight

On Thursday night, the Obama administration informed Congress that it has transferred $81 million within the Health and Human Services Department to finance anti-Zika virus efforts, with $34 million heading to a National Institutes of Health program to support ongoing development of a way to fight Zika virus and $47 million slotted to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for related Zika preparedness. The money will come from funds set aside for biomedical research on cancer and other ailments, as well as programs to help poor families pay for heating oil and substance abuse programs.

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell made clear to Congress that she is not pleased with having to "choose between delaying critical vaccine development work and raiding other worthy government programs to temporarily avoid" halting ongoing Zika vaccine research, and that this new money will run out at the end of August, pausing second-phase trials on a Zika vaccine. In April, with Congress not acting, the Obama administration moved $589 million from the anti-Ebola effort to fight Zika, and that money is almost gone.

President Obama had requested $1.9 billion in emergency funding to respond to Zika virus in February, but Congress has appropriated zero dollars, with the Senate deadlocked over a $1.1 billion Republican bill that Democrats opposed because it blocked funding for Planned Parenthood, stripped funding from ObamaCare, and included other clauses they viewed as unhelpful and partisan. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday night that he is "pleased that the Obama administration is finally activating funds it has to combat Zika. But it's a shame that it's come after months of shameless political posturing."

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As of Aug. 4, there are 7,350 known Zika infections in the U.S., including 15 infants born with the virus. Most of the cases are in Puerto Rico. In the 50 states and Washington, D.C., there are 1,962 reported cases of Zika, including 510 infected pregnant women. Babies born to infected women often have health problems, notably microcephaly. Most of the cases in the states have been traced to foreign infections, but there are at least 25 people infected in a domestic outbreak in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. Zika is spread through mosquitos and sexual transmission.