WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The White House sent to U.S. Congress on Monday its 2.5-billion-U.S.-dollar supplemental budget proposal to fight COVID-19.

According to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, over 1 billion dollars will be used for vaccine development, and the other funds will be spent on supporting preparedness and response activities as well as procuring needed equipment and supplies.

The Politico reported that U.S. public health groups had pushed the White House to ask for emergency funds.

However, the funding request was much smaller than the U.S. response in 2014 to the Ebola outbreak, when a 6.2-billion-dollar budget was requested.  ■