Zika Research Funded By Congress

More than eight months after the White House first asked for it, Congress has finally agreed on some funding to help fight the Zika virus and study its effects. A stopgap spending bill passed late Wednesday night provides $1.1 billion to use in continuing work on a vaccine against Zika virus infection, as well as studies of the effects on unborn babies, adults and children. It will also help states control the mosquitoes that spread the virus. "Congress has finally treated Zika like the emergency it is and shown the American people that it is capable of rising above partisanship for the health of its citizens," said Dr. Thomas Gellhaus, president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.