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Home votes to repeal 2002 Iraq Conflict authorization

US President George W. Bush (L) speaks prior to signing the Joint Congressional Resolution to Authorize US Use of Force against Iraq if necessary, October 16, 2002, at the White House in Washington, DC. From L are House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Joyce Naltchayan | AFP | Getty Images

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to revoke the 2002 war permit in Iraq as Congress seeks to limit the president’s discretion in the use of military force.

The chamber passed the measure by a margin of 268 to 161. Forty-nine Republicans backed them except for one Democrat.

The bill goes to the Senate, where the GOP is split over whether to support them. The Chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee plans to proceed next week with its own plan to revoke authorization for the use of military force.

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President Joe Biden supports the House Bill of Representatives to Repeal the Iraq War. His Office of Management and Budget said this week that “the United States has no ongoing military activities relying solely on the 2002 AUMF as its domestic legal basis, and repeal of the 2002 AUMF would likely have minimal impact on ongoing military operations to have.”

Legislators from both parties have feared that leaving the approval in place will give the presidents legal backing to justify independent military strikes. The Iraq war ended almost a decade ago.

The House of Representatives voted to lift the measure in January 2020 after the US launched an air strike in Iraq that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. The Senate, then held by Republicans, did not pass the bill. The Trump administration named the approval measure as the legal basis for the air strike.

(R) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hold a critical press conference at the U.S. Capitol on October 4, 2017 in Washington . Direct current.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, spearheaded legislation that the House of Representatives passed Thursday. Lee, a longtime anti-war advocate, was the only House MP who voted against the war permit in Afghanistan in 2001.

“This authority remains on the books and is prone to abuse as Congress failed to act to remove it,” Lee said in the House of Representatives on Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said Wednesday that he would vote on revoking the Iraq warrant this year. He said the revocation of the permit would “remove the risk of a future government resorting to the legal dustbin to be used as a justification for military adventure”.

Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Signaled Thursday that he would oppose the war permit being lifted, despite support for his faction.

U.S. Army Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Task Force Iraq, man a defensive position on Forward Operating Base Union III in Baghdad, Iraq, December 31, 2019.

US Army | Reuters

“The fact is that the legal and practical application of the 2002 AUMF goes well beyond the defeat of Saddam Hussein’s regime,” he said. “To throw it aside without answering real questions about our own efforts in the region is reckless.”

Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., And Todd Young, R-Ind., Led efforts to overturn the measure in the Senate.

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Health

Moderna Apples for Authorization of Its Covid Vaccine for Adolescents

Moderna applied to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday for emergency clearance to use its coronavirus vaccine in 12-17 year olds. If approved as expected, the vaccine would offer a second option to protect teenagers from the coronavirus and speed the return to normal for middle and high school students.

The company has already applied for approval from Health Canada and the European Medicines Agency and plans to apply for approval in other countries, CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. FDA approval usually takes three to four weeks.

Last month, the FDA expanded the emergency approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine for use in children ages 12-15. This vaccine was already available to anyone over the age of 16. About 7 million children under the age of 18 have received at least one dose of the vaccine to date, and about 3.5 million are fully protected.

Moderna’s vaccine was approved for use in adults in December. His application to the FDA for young teenagers is based on study results published last month. This clinical trial enrolled 3,732 children, ages 12-17, with 2,500 receiving two doses of the vaccine and the remainder receiving a saltwater placebo.

The study found no cases of symptomatic Covid-19 in fully vaccinated adolescents, which is 100 percent effectiveness, the same number that Pfizer and BioNTech reported for this age group. The study also found that a single dose of the Moderna vaccine was 93 percent effective. Participants did not experience any serious side effects beyond those seen in adults: injection site pain, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, and chills.

An independent safety monitoring committee will follow all participants for 12 months after their second injection to assess long-term protection and safety.

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Health

GlaxoSmithKline asks FDA for emergency authorization for antibody drug

In this photo illustration, the UK multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) logo is displayed on a smartphone with a computer model of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the background.

Budrul Chukrut | SOPA pictures | Getty Images

GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology filed Friday with the Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval for their monoclonal antibody drug.

The companies apply for the permit for high risk individuals aged 12 and over.

The FDA filing is based on an interim analysis of a Phase 3 study evaluating the drug for the early treatment of Covid-19 in adults at high hospital risk. The drug reduced hospital admissions or death from Covid by 85% compared to a placebo. The test results were based on 583 patients.

“As a result, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended that the study be discontinued because of the evidence of profound effectiveness for the registration,” the company said in a statement.

Companies began testing the antibody on early-stage Covid patients in August in hopes of preventing symptoms from getting worse. Antibody drugs gained attention after they were used to treat former President Donald Trump last year.

U.S. health officials say antibody drugs already approved for use – by Regeneron and Eli Lilly – are not being used adequately.

GSK said the companies would also continue talks with the European Medicines Agency and other global regulators to make the drug available to Covid patients as soon as possible.

-Reuter contributed to this report.

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Health

J&J requests FDA emergency use authorization

Artur Widak | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Johnson & Johnson filed with the Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval to use its coronavirus vaccine after data was released last week showing that protection against the virus was about 66% effective.

If the application is approved by J&J, this will be the third Covid-19 vaccine approved for emergency use in the US, after vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Pfizer’s vaccine was approved by the FDA on December 11, and Moderna’s vaccine was approved a week later.

US officials and Wall Street analysts are eagerly awaiting J & J’s vaccine approval, which could come as early as this month. President Joe Biden is trying to speed up the pace of vaccination in the US, and experts say his government will need a range of drugs and vaccines to beat the virus that killed more than 450,000 Americans in the past year.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, which require two doses three to four weeks apart, J & J’s vaccine only requires one dose, making logistics easier for healthcare providers.

J&J said on Jan. 29 that its vaccine was 66% overall effective against Covid-19. However, the vaccine appeared to be less effective against other variants. The level of protection was only 57% in South Africa, where a new, highly contagious strain called B.1.351 is spreading rapidly. South Carolina officials discovered the first known US case of this strain last month.

Infectious disease experts suggest that J & J’s numbers cannot be used as a direct comparison with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which were found to be 95% and 94% effective, respectively. That’s because J & J’s vaccine is a single dose, and the company’s study came about when there were more infections and new, more contagious variants.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said the key finding from the J&J data was that the vaccine was 85% effective at preventing major diseases.

“The most important thing, which is more important than preventing someone from getting a pain and a sore throat, is preventing people from getting serious illnesses,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, speaking to reporters on Jan. January. 29. “This will alleviate so much stress and human suffering and death in this epidemic.”

The FDA has announced that it will approve a vaccine that is safe and at least 50% effective. In comparison, the flu vaccine generally reduces people’s risk of influenza by 40% to 60% compared to people who are not vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

J&J has announced that it will ship the vaccine at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. In comparison, Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored in ultra-cold freezers that are between negative 112 and negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Moderna vaccine must be delivered between 13 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced in August that it had signed a contract with Janssen, J & J’s pharmaceutical subsidiary, worth approximately $ 1 billion for 100 million doses of its vaccine. The deal gives the federal government the opportunity to order another 200 million cans, according to the announcement.

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