White House Requests $1.8 Billion to Fight Zika
President Obama on Monday asked Congress for $1.8 billion to fight the Zika virus. The money will go to fund mosquito-control programs, provide research for a vaccine, and improve healthcare for low-income pregnant women.
Also on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put its emergency operations center on its highest “Level 1” status for the first time since the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
More than 25 countries and territories in the Americas have reported cases of Zika, and 50 cases have been reported among U.S. travelers, according to the CDC.
But President Obama emphasized that Zika isn’t a threat to the entire population the way Ebola was, though "there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women or women who are thinking about getting pregnant,” he said.
The CDC has advised pregnant women to avoid travel to areas with an active outbreak of Zika.