VOA常速英语:拜登扭转特朗普医疗政策

This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd. President Joe Biden has taken his first steps to reverse the Trump administration's health care policies. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Biden said he signed two executive orders to undo the damage that Trump has done to health care. "There's nothing new that we're doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring the Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became president." The directives cover a rage of issues including getting more Americans covered under health insurance and removing work requirements for low-income people getting Medicaid. The most concrete short-term impact will come from reopening HealthCare.gov insurance markets as coverage has shrunk amid economic turmoil due to the coronavirus pandemic. Biden is also directing health officials to weigh repealing a Trump rule that barred federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions.

Another drug maker says its COVID-19 vaccine seems effective. AP's Sagar Meghani has details.Maryland-based Novavax says the vaccine appears 89 percent effective in early findings from a British study though it's not quite as effective against a virus variant spreading in the U.K. and another in South Africa. The U.S. now has its first two cases of the South African mutated strain, both in South Carolina, in adults with no recent travel history. Health officials say it's almost certain there are more infections not yet identified. The Novavax announcement comes amid worry about whether existing vaccines will be strong enough to protect against the variants which seem to spread more easily. Sagar Meghani, Washington. Visit VOAnews.com for more. This is VOA news.