President Joe Biden received a second booster shot of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday at the White House (watch above), a day after the Federal Drug Administration authorized an additional jab for Americans 50 and older and the immunocompromised.

Before receiving the shot – his fourth dose of the vaccine – the seventy-nine year old Biden announced the launch of COVID.gov, a site he said would be a “one-stop shop” for COVID resources.

“The bottom line, no longer will Americans have to scour the internet to find vaccines, treatments, tests or masks, It’s all there,” Biden said.

The New York Times reports:

The website, and Mr. Biden’s speech, are part of a broader effort to ease the nation out of pandemic crisis mode and usher in what experts are calling the “next normal” — a phase in which Americans will learn to live with the risk of Covid-19 and to adjust behavior like mask wearing based on whether cases and hospitalizations are rising or falling.

That strategy depends on the availability of vaccines and therapeutics, though, and the administration says it is out of money for both. The White House has been pleading with Republicans in Congress to approve $22.5 billion in emergency aid to purchase new vaccines and therapeutics, and to reimburse doctors who care for uninsured Covid-19 patients.

“This isn’t partisan. It’s medicine,” Biden said.

“Congress, please act, you have to act immediately. The consequences of inaction are severe and will only grow with time, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” he added.

The Washington Post adds key context:

The president’s speech came as U.S. covid infections and hospitalizations have plunged from the records set in January, driven by the fast-moving omicron variant, but with public health experts bracing for a potential rebound fueled by BA. 2, an omicron subvariant that has already spurred a surge of cases in Europe and is responsible for more than half of new cases in the United States, according to federal data. But polls have shown that many Americans increasingly believe covid is a fading priority, with only one-third of voters in a Pew Research survey this month saying that the virus is a key issue that will affect their votes in this year’s midterm election.

Uptake of booster shots has also lagged behind White House goals, even after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans get a first booster to bolster their protections, citing evidence that immunity that begins to wane months after receiving a prior shot or being infected. About one-third of Americans over the age of 65 and more than half of all adults have yet to receive their first booster shot, according to federal data.