White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha is warning the United States faces new waves of unnecessary deaths unless Congress approves new funding to fight the coronavirus. Republicans have refused to back a $10 billion compromise COVID funding bill, demanding the Biden administration keep in place a Trump-era ban on asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech finalized an application to the FDA for emergency use of a three-dose COVID vaccine for children under age 5. FDA advisers are scheduled to meet June 15 to discuss the plan. Meanwhile, new data shows deaths among seniors 65 and older soared during the winter wave of Omicron infections, after the virus evolved new ways to circumvent immunity from vaccinations and prior infections.