CDC Needs $6 Billion to Distribute Virus Vaccine, Redfield Says

The federal government needs an additional $5.5 billion to $6 billion to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine once one is approved, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield told a Senate panel Wednesday.

“We do not have the resources to support 64 jurisdictions to get this plan operational. To me, it’s an urgency that we get that,” Redfield said at a hearing of the Senate Labor-HHS appropriations subcommittee.

The CDC is in charge of working with states and territories to distribute a vaccine and has already spent $600 million, but that was just for early planning, according to Redfield. ...