The president is focused on veterans who fell ill after breathing in toxic materials from burning waste in Iraq and Afghanistan, exposure that he believes contributed to the death of his elder son.WASHINGTON — President Biden called on Tuesday for the broad expansion of health benefits for veterans, particularly those who fell ill after breathing in toxic materials from burning waste in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, exposure that he believes contributed to the cancer that killed his elder son, Beau.For Mr. Biden, the issue is personal and political. Last week, in his State of the Union address, he said he would pursue expanded benefits for veterans as part of a domestic agenda that the White House has retooled to emphasize bipartisan comity after failing to win passage of a more extensive social safety net plan last year.On Tuesday, Mr. Biden briefly pivoted his attention away from a roiling war in Europe to travel with Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, to a clinic near Fort Worth. There, the president met with veterans who had suffered spinal injuries and began coughing up black matter after serving near burn pits, as the military’s garbage disposal fires are known.Speaking to an audience of veterans and lawmakers, Mr. Biden said it had taken years for researchers and lawmakers to better understand the harmful effects of Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War. He compared that situation with what he believes has been a lag in studying the effects of toxins breathed in by troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and were burning trash and other waste. Burn pits are typically filled with trash, such as medical waste and vehicles, which is then doused with jet fuel and burned.Mr. Biden pointed out that he had worked as a senator to support research into the effects of Agent Orange, and he said younger veterans who had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, often more than once, deserved a similar level of support.Reporting From AfghanistanInside the Fall of Kabul: ​The Taliban took the Afghan capital with a speed that shocked the world. Our reporter and photographer witnessed it.On Patrol: A group of Times journalists spent 12 days with a Taliban police unit in Kabul. Here is what they saw.Face to Face: ​​A Times reporter who served as a Marine in Afghanistan returned to interview a Taliban commander he once fought.A Photographer’s Journal: A look at 20 years of war in Afghanistan, chronicled through one Times photographer’s lens.“Today we’re even slower to connect the dots of what’s happening,” Mr. Biden said during his remarks. He pointed out that new illnesses, including bladder cancer, were still being added as possible outcomes of exposure to Agent Orange, some as recently as last year.“Science told us more, decades after the exposure took place,” Mr. Biden said. “It took far too long to reach that decision in my view, and I refuse to repeat the mistake when it comes to veterans of our Iraq and Afghan wars.”Proving a link between toxic substances in war zones and subsequent illnesses suffered by veterans has been politically onerous for lawmakers and prohibitively expensive for many who fall ill. But activists who have fought for benefits for years see a champion in Mr. Biden, who has long speculated that toxic substances from burn pits contributed to the brain cancer of his son. The younger Mr. Biden, who died in 2015, served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard.“What better advocate can we have than the president of the United States?” Susan Zeier, whose son-in-law died of lung cancer after serving in Iraq, said in an interview. Ms. Zeier, who is part of a group of activists who have been trying for years to get the government’s attention, found a sympathetic listener in Mr. Biden.“Some members of Congress who have been slow-walking this I think are maybe finally seeing the light,” she added.Three members of Congress — two Democrats and one Republican — traveled with Mr. Biden to Fort Worth. One of them, Representative Jake Ellzey, Republican of Texas, recounted his own years in the military as a reason for his decision to join Mr. Biden for the event.“There’s a lot that’s not right in our country and our world today,” Mr. Ellzey said. “These are difficult times. These are scary times. At the end of the day, we don’t put an R or D in front of veteran.”Mr. Biden highlighted the bipartisan support for a bill, passed by the House last week, that would expand disability benefits for veterans who were exposed to toxic substances and classify more health problems as related to burn pit exposure. Senators Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, and Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, also have a bill to improve Department of Veterans Affairs benefits for service members exposed to burn pits.U.S. Army soldiers watched garbage burn at a base in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan in 2013.Andrew Burton/Reuters“These are the bills that will unite the American people,” Mr. Biden said. “Let’s get those bills to my desk so I can sign them immediately.”Opponents of the legislation passed by the House say it will only increase what are already extensive backlogs for others seeking medical care. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Republican of Iowa and a veteran, called the bill “wildly expensive” and accused its authors of partisanship.“The people who will bear the brunt of House Democrats’ lackluster action today are the everyday Americans who need Congress to simply get the job done,” she said in a statement last week after the bill passed the House.Both supporters and opponents of the legislation agree that more research needs to be done to determine whether illnesses veterans develop after they serve can be linked to burn pits. The Department of Veterans Affairs has said in the past that there was little evidence to prove that burn pits contributed to veterans’ illnesses, and it still advises that many symptoms should disappear after the exposure ends.But the department also says that researchers “are actively studying airborne hazards like burn pits and other military environmental exposures,” according to an agency webpage on the subject.Last week, the department announced that it would seek to add nine rare respiratory cancers to the list of service-connected disabilities caused by exposure to toxic chemicals in burn pits. Mr. Biden acknowledged that more research needed to be done on the links between burn pits and later illnesses, but he said he wanted the department to support veterans in the meantime.“When the evidence doesn’t give a clear answer one way or another, the decision we should favor is caring for our veterans while we continue to learn more,” Mr. Biden said. “Not waiting, not waiting.”

The adviser, Eric S. Lander, had apologized for his workplace conduct. The president had pledged to immediately fire any official who acted that way toward colleagues.WASHINGTON — Eric S. Lander, the president’s top science adviser, resigned Monday evening after acknowledging that he had demeaned and disrespected his colleagues, behavior that prompted immediate questions about how he could keep his job given President Biden’s promise to fire any aide who disrespected others.“The president accepted Dr. Eric Lander’s resignation letter this evening with gratitude” for his work, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “He knows that Dr. Lander will continue to make important contributions to the scientific community in the years ahead.”Dr. Lander, a cabinet-level official, apologized in an email to his staff after an internal investigation found that he had violated an administration policy that outlines rules for respectful workplace conduct. In his resignation letter to the president, he again expressed regret for having been disrespectful. “I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them,” Dr. Lander wrote in his resignation letter. “I have sought to push myself and my colleagues to reach our shared goals — including at times challenging and criticizing. But it is clear that things I said, and the way I said them, crossed the line at times into being disrespectful and demeaning, to both men and women.”Mr. Biden, on his first day in office, said he would immediately terminate anyone who was caught showing disrespect to another colleague.“If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot,” Mr. Biden told a group of appointees on Inauguration Day. “Everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity. That’s been missing in a big way for the last four years.”Since then, the White House has faced questions on how Mr. Biden’s edict has been applied across the administration.In February, T.J. Ducklo, a former deputy White House press secretary, resigned after he had used abusive and sexist language with a female reporter. (The resignation only came after an outcry over his initial punishment, which was suspension without pay for a week.)The case of Dr. Lander was revealed earlier by Politico. Rachel Wallace, who served as Dr. Lander’s former general counsel, brought a complaint against him and other leaders in the Office of Science and Technology Policy.“Lander’s apology did not come close to addressing the full extent of his egregious behavior,” she said in an interview with Politico, choosing to reveal her identity after she read the letter he sent to employees.“Numerous women have been left in tears, traumatized, and feeling vulnerable and isolated,” Ms. Wallace said.The investigation into Ms. Wallace’s complaint found that he had engaged in “bullying” behavior toward her. Investigators also uncovered “credible evidence of instances of multiple women having complained to other staff about negative interactions with Dr. Lander,” according to the Politico report.An administration official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the process, said that the investigation did not find credible evidence of gender-based discrimination and that Ms. Wallace’s reassignment was deemed appropriate. Ms. Wallace is now deputy counsel and chief operating officer at the office.The White House initially stood by Dr. Lander. Ms. Psaki fielded questions from reporters on the matter earlier on Monday, including several who questioned how the president could operate with a zero-tolerance policy on workplace harassment if Dr. Lander remained employed.But pressure quickly mounted after Ms. Wallace publicly said that his apology was not sufficient, and that his behavior had been widespread, abusive, and focused on women.“Our objective and the president’s objective is to prevent this behavior from ever happening again,” Ms. Psaki said.Ms. Psaki referred repeatedly to the administration’s “Safe and Respectful Workplace Policy across the Executive Office of the President,” which she said was completed early in Mr. Biden’s tenure.The document, sent by Dana Remus, the White House counsel, to employees in May, states that “discrimination; harassment, including sexual harassment; bullying; and retaliation violate the respect owed to every employees in the White House, and such conduct will not be tolerated,” according to a copy obtained by The New York Times. Bullying is defined in the policy as “repeated behavior that a reasonable individual would find disrespectful, intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive.”Ms. Psaki said Dr. Lander’s background had been extensively vetted during his Senate confirmation process, for which she noted he had received bipartisan support. It was not a smooth road. During the process, Dr. Lander was questioned by Republicans and Democrats about his past contact with Jeffrey E. Epstein, the former financier and convicted sex offender. He also apologized for “understating” the contributions of two female scientists to the discovery of gene-editing technology.At the time, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, gave him some advice: She said she hoped the doctor would “use this hearing as an opportunity to explain how you have learned from your past mistakes.”On Monday, members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology requested that the White House provide them with a copy of the administration’s internal investigation report.Dr. Lander, a molecular biologist who is best known as one of the leaders of the Human Genome Project and former head of the Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard, is the first person in his role to be elevated to the presidential cabinet. He is in charge of the president’s cancer “moonshot” initiative, which aims to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over 25 years. In recent weeks, he had delivered briefings on the subject to the president and first lady, whose eldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015.But by the time he was appointed to be Mr. Biden’s science adviser, he was well known within the scientific community for offending women. Last January, 500 female scientists published an editorial in Scientific American that pleaded with Mr. Biden to consider naming someone else — preferably a woman — to the position.“While we can celebrate the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to science, we must recognize that Lander has a reputation among some scientists for being controversial, and colleagues have criticized him for his ‘ego without end,’” the group wrote. They also pointed out that he had in the past toasted James Watson, a molecular biologist who, the authors of the letter wrote, had a “long history of racist and sexist comments.”

White House officials, anticipating the approval of coronavirus shots for 5- to 11-year-olds within weeks, will rely on doctors, clinics and pharmacies instead of mass inoculation sites.WASHINGTON — The campaign to vaccinate young children in the United States against the coronavirus will not look like it did for adults. There will be no mass inoculation sites. Pediatricians will be enlisted to help work with parents. Even the vials — and the needles to administer doses — will be smaller.Biden administration officials, anticipating that regulators will make the vaccines available to 5- to 11-year-olds in the coming weeks, is laying out plans to ensure that some 25,000 pediatric or primary care offices, thousands of pharmacies, and hundreds of school and rural health clinics will be ready to administer shots if the vaccine receives federal authorization.The campaign aims to fulfill the unique needs of patients largely still in elementary school, while absorbing the lessons from the rollout of vaccines to other age groups.This month, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of their vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, a move that could help protect more than 28 million people in the United States. A meeting to discuss the authorization is set for Oct. 26, and an F.D.A. ruling could come in the days after, possibly clearing a path for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make recommendations on a pediatric dose in early November.If that happens, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide reimbursement for “full funding to states to support vaccinations and outreach,” said Sonya Bernstein, a senior policy adviser for the White House Covid-19 Response Team. That support would involve site setup as well as logistical help like providing transportation to and from vaccine sites.“We know that access is going to be critical here,” Ms. Bernstein said, adding that the administration has in recent weeks looked at ways to provide a “kid-friendly experience that makes sure that we’re getting shots in arms with trusted providers in ways that makes parents feel comfortable.”The process will not look or feel the way it did when other groups in the United States were first authorized to receive vaccines. The 5-to-11 age group, with 28 million children, is far larger than the 12-to-15 group, with 17 million, who became eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in May. But the younger group will not be expected to line up at mass vaccination sites: “We don’t want lines of kids,” said Ms. Bernstein, who pointed out that children tend to be more sensitive patients. (Read: They cry.) Pediatrician’s offices, children’s hospitals and pharmacies with in-store clinics will be the preferred options.The needles that administer the vaccine and the vials that hold it will need to be smaller to be more easily stored. (The Pfizer dose for children ages 5 to 11 is expected to contain 10 micrograms, rather than the 30-microgram dose used for ages 12 and up.) To keep doses from spoiling, the child-size vials can be stored for up to 10 weeks at standard refrigeration temperatures, and six months at colder temperatures, according to a memo administration officials plan to make public on Wednesday.Taking cues from what worked when shots were opened to teenagers, whose vaccinations generally require parental consent, officials are also leaning heavily on local health experts, who they believe are more trusted in their communities and can help reach high-risk children. “Children’s hospitals and health systems will be a critical part of our efforts to advance equity and ensure access for our nation’s highest-risk kids, including those with obesity, diabetes, asthma or immunosuppression,” the memo said.But while the administration aims to eliminate the types of availability and efficiency problems that plagued the initial vaccine process, reluctance has persisted among parents..css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-k59gj9{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;width:100%;}.css-1e2usoh{font-family:inherit;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;border-top:1px solid #ccc;padding:10px 0px 10px 0px;background-color:#fff;}.css-1jz6h6z{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.5rem;text-align:left;}.css-1t412wb{box-sizing:border-box;margin:8px 15px 0px 15px;cursor:pointer;}.css-hhzar2{-webkit-transition:-webkit-transform ease 0.5s;-webkit-transition:transform ease 0.5s;transition:transform ease 0.5s;}.css-t54hv4{-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-1r2j9qz{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-e1ipqs{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.5rem;padding:0px 30px 0px 0px;}.css-e1ipqs a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-e1ipqs a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}.css-1o76pdf{visibility:show;height:100%;padding-bottom:20px;}.css-1sw9s96{visibility:hidden;height:0px;}.css-1in8jot{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;font-family:’nyt-franklin’,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;text-align:left;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1in8jot{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-1in8jot:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1in8jot{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}What to Know About Covid-19 Booster ShotsThe F.D.A. authorized booster shots for a select group of people who received their second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least six months before. That group includes: vaccine recipients who are 65 or older or who live in long-term care facilities; adults who are at high risk of severe Covid-19 because of an underlying medical condition; health care workers and others whose jobs put them at risk. People with weakened immune systems are eligible for a third dose of either Pfizer or Moderna four weeks after the second shot.Regulators have not authorized booster shots for recipients of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines yet. A key advisory committee to the F.D.A. voted unanimously on Oct. 14 to recommend a third dose of the Moderna vaccine for many of its recipients. The same panel voted unanimously on Oct. 15 to recommend booster shots of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine for all adult recipients. The F.D.A. typically follows the panel’s advice, and should rule within days.The C.D.C. has said the conditions that qualify a person for a booster shot include: hypertension and heart disease; diabetes or obesity; cancer or blood disorders; weakened immune system; chronic lung, kidney or liver disease; dementia and certain disabilities. Pregnant women and current and former smokers are also eligible.The F.D.A. authorized boosters for workers whose jobs put them at high risk of exposure to potentially infectious people. The C.D.C. says that group includes: emergency medical workers; education workers; food and agriculture workers; manufacturing workers; corrections workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; public transit workers; grocery store workers.For now, it is not recommended. Pfizer vaccine recipients are advised to get a Pfizer booster shot, and Moderna and Johnson & Johnson recipients should wait until booster doses from those manufacturers are approved. ​​The F.D.A. is planning to allow Americans to receive a different vaccine as a booster from the one they initially received. The “mix and match” approach could be approved once boosters for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson recipients are authorized.Yes. The C.D.C. says the Covid vaccine may be administered without regard to the timing of other vaccines, and many pharmacy sites are allowing people to schedule a flu shot at the same time as a booster dose.According to polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation published in late September, only about one in three parents of 5- to 11-year-olds planned to get their children inoculated “right away” once a vaccine is authorized. Another third said they wanted to “wait and see” how the vaccine affected children. But that same polling showed that reluctance among parents of teenagers had dropped in the months since vaccines had become available, and nearly half of parents of those ages 12 to 17 said their teenagers had received at least one dose.Hospitalizations and deaths from Covid-19 are uncommon in children, according to data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but experts point out that children are still susceptible to serious or long-haul versions of the illness.“Of course, adults are going to have much more severe diseases, but that doesn’t mean that children are not affected as well,” said Dr. Flor Munoz-Rivas, an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. “Children are typically ones that are vectors of transmitting the virus,” she said, and preventing them from getting infected “could potentially also have some effect” in slowing the spread of the virus.