U.S. Senator Patty Murray issued the following announcement on July 2
Today, at a hearing of the Senate Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the subcommittee, spoke about the importance of making sure U.S. efforts to develop safe and effective medical countermeasures for COVID-19—like diagnostics, therapeutics, and a vaccine—are led by science and public health, not politics. She warned against letting the Trump Administration repeat its testing mistakes which caused delays and exacerbated existing health disparities.
“The Trump Administration put politics ahead of public health by promoting unproven treatments, and steering PPE contracts to unqualified political allies. The Administration failed to plan in a comprehensive way for nationwide challenges like scaling up testing and contact tracing, and ignored—and exacerbated—existing health disparities that left Black, Latino, and Tribal communities to face the worst of this crisis,” said Senator Murray. “If we want to get out of this mess anytime soon, the Trump Administration has to do better—particularly when it comes to developing a safe, effective vaccine that is widely available.
Senator Murray argued for transparency and accountability, particularly in light of the Trump Administration’s steps to remove key Biomedical Advanced Research And Development Authority (BARDA) officials, promote unproven treatments, and prioritize political connections over qualifications when seeking to secure personal protective equipment.
In order to address these issues, Senator Murray urged Congress require the Trump Administration to put forward a comprehensive national vaccine plan that details how it will develop, produce, and distribute a safe and effective vaccine in a way that addresses disparities, protects vulnerable populations, fights vaccine hesitancy, and ensures the vaccine is free to everyone. She also called on the Administration to commit to publicly releasing the trial data experts will use to evaluate vaccine safety and effectiveness.
“We saw with testing how the Administration’s stubborn refusal to plan led to totally avoidable delays, so Congress clearly needs to act to hold President Trump accountable when it comes to vaccines, or risk another inadequate plan that offers too little, too late—or worse no plan at all,” said Senator Murray. “This plan must ensure research and development is rigorous, science-driven, and inclusive. And it must lay out specific standards, timelines, and milestones; a commitment to be fully transparent about the clinical trial data experts will use to evaluate safety and effectiveness; and strategies for combatting vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.”
During her questioning, Senator Murray asked Dr. Gary Disrbow, Acting Director of BARDA to commit the agency is avoiding conflicts of interest, and pressed him on why some of the agency’s recent contracts with pharmaceutical companies gave the government less power to ensure fair vaccine pricing.
Original source can be found here.
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