(CNN) – The Biden administration will forcefully urge Congress to pass additional Covid-19 funding during Thursday’s virtual Global Covid-19 Summit, according to two senior administration officials.
The summit, the officials said, is aimed at “redoubling” efforts to control Covid-19 and preparing the world for future variants of the coronavirus or the next deadly pandemic. On Thursday, the White House mourned the loss of 1 million American lives to Covid-19, though other official tallies have placed the figure a bit short of that mark.
Thursday’s summit, which is co-hosted by the White House along with Germany, Indonesia, Senegal and Belize, will call for countries to invest in the new Global Pandemic Preparedness and Health Security fund at the World Bank, and the United States will be announcing that its pledge will increase to $450 million, up from the initially promised amount of $250 million.