VOA常速英语:拜登和民主党高层举办白宫玫瑰园庆功会

This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd. The World Health Organization announced Friday it had granted an emergency use listing for the coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson. The move means the one-dose shot can now theoretically be used as part of the international COVAX effort to distribute vaccines globally, including to developing countries with no supplies. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the WHO's director-general. "The inequitable distribution of vaccines remains the biggest threat to ending the pandemic and driving a global recovery." The WHO has previously signed off on COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca.

President Joe Biden and top Democrats took time Friday to celebrate passage of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package into law. AP's Sagar Meghani reports. In a Rose Garden victory lap, the theme was clear. From Congress's leaders, "Promise made, promise fulfilled," "Help is on the way." Vice President Harris: "Help has arrived" and the president: "Help is here," saying Americans will start seeing it this weekend in the form of $1,400 payments but even as he celebrated the president warned the devil is in the details. The nation now needs to see that it's government knows what to do with the $1.9 trillion dollars. "We have to get this right." He'll hit the road next week to sell the plan's benefits in what's the White House is calling the "help is on the way tour." Sagar Meghani, Washington.

A mixed day on Wall Street. The Dow was up .9 percent, the S&P gained .1 percent but the NASDAQ lost .59 percent. Find more at our website VOAnews.com. This is VOA news.