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Source: PRESS RELEASE, 9/9/20 Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the America First Vaccine Act, legislation that will ensure that Americans will be the first to receive any COVID-19 vaccine that was developed by an American company with the support of U.S. taxpayer dollars.Specifically, the legislation
will prevent a manufacturer of a vaccine that was developed
with the support of federal funding from distributing a vaccine
outside of the United States until the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, in consultation with the FDA Commissioner, certifies
that domestic need for the vaccine has already been met or is in
the best interest of American public health. Any
company that violates this requirement will be required to pay back the federal
government for all federal funds they received from American taxpayers, plus
interest. “Since this pandemic began, I have worked on a bipartisan basis to protect the health and safety of North Carolinians, including supporting billions of dollars to produce a safe and effective vaccine as quickly as possible,” said
Senator Tillis. “Once that vaccine is developed, Americans should get the vaccine first before it goes to other countries. The America First Vaccine Act is about protecting the health of North Carolinians and ensuring that they receive a return on their investment when we develop a safe vaccine.” To date, Congress has
directed almost $10 billion to Operation Warp Speed (OWS), a partnership
between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the
Department of Defense (DoD) to find a COVID-19 vaccine. Read text of the legislation here.
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