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Trump Administration Dips Into Protective Gear, CDC Funds to Fund Vaccine Push

The Warp Speed program’s budget is as large as $18 billion, far bigger than the $10 billion cited by the government

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Photographer: Ben Stanstall/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration has shifted billions of dollars previously allocated to public-health programs into its Operation Warp Speed vaccine push, reflecting the U.S. government’s increasing focus on a medical solution to ease the Covid-19 pandemic.

The transfers, disclosed in a government audit, reported by Bloomberg News and described by congressional aides, have grown the budget of the Warp Speed program to as large as $18 billion, much larger than the $10 billion figure the administration has routinely cited in public.