NOVID Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1976 To establish a program to oversee the global COVID–19 response and prepare for future pandemics, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 8, 2021 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To establish a program to oversee the global COVID–19 response and prepare for future pandemics, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nullifying Opportuni- 4 ties for Variants to Infect and Decimate Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘NOVID Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7 It is the sense of Congress that— 8 (1) the United States has made tremendous 9 progress towards ending the COVID–19 pandemic 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1976 IS within its borders, thanks to an unprecedented and 1 highly successful vaccination campaign spearheaded 2 by the Biden Administration; 3 (2) the COVID–19 pandemic continues to rage 4 unchecked across much of the world as global vac- 5 cination efforts have struggled to keep pace; 6 (3) if current trends continue, many middle-in- 7 come countries may not achieve widespread vaccina- 8 tion until late 2022, and the world’s poorest nations 9 will not reach widespread vaccination coverage be- 10 fore 2023, if at all; 11 (4) the situation overseas threatens progress to- 12 ward ending the COVID–19 pandemic in the United 13 States, since unchecked transmission of COVID–19 14 gives rise to new variants, many of which show vac- 15 cine resistance; 16 (5) the most concerning of these variants has 17 been shown to reduce vaccine efficacy by as much as 18 20 to 40 percent; and 19 (6) the United States should take up the man- 20 tle of global leadership in the fight to end the 21 COVID–19 pandemic— 22 (A) to protect United States citizens from 23 the emergence of new vaccine-resistant 24 coronavirus variants; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1976 IS (B) to prevent the kind of humanitarian 1 catastrophe currently occurring in South Asia, 2 South America, and elsewhere. 3 SEC. 3. PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE PRO- 4 GRAM. 5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Pan- 6 demic Preparedness and Response Program (referred to 7 in this as the ‘‘Program’’)— 8 (1) to oversee the United States government- 9 wide global health response to the COVID–19 pan- 10 demic; and 11 (2) to protect Americans from the emergence of 12 COVID–19 variants and other pathogens with pan- 13 demic potential. 14 (b) DIRECTOR.—The President shall appoint the Di- 15 rector of the Program (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Di- 16 rector’’), who shall be responsible for coordinating among 17 the Federal departments and agencies listed in subsection 18 (c)(1) and coordinating the role of the United States in 19 the work of international nongovernmental organizations, 20 development banks, civil society, and foreign governments, 21 with respect to the global health response to the COVID– 22 19 pandemic and the prevention of the emergence of 23 variants or of other pathogens with pandemic potential. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1976 IS (c) FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.—The 1 Federal departments and agencies listed in this subsection 2 are— 3 (1) the Department of State; 4 (2) the United States Agency for International 5 Development; 6 (3) the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 7 tion; 8 (4) the Food and Drug Administration; 9 (5) the Biomedical Advanced Research and De- 10 velopment Authority and the Health Resources and 11 Services Administration of the Department of 12 Health and Human Services; 13 (6) the Department of Defense; 14 (7) the Peace Corps; 15 (8) the Department of Labor; and 16 (9) any other department or agency the Presi- 17 dent determines appropriate. 18 (d) COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 20 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 21 shall develop a comprehensive strategy to end the 22 COVID–19 pandemic worldwide and to prevent fu- 23 ture pandemics, which shall include specific achiev- 24 able goals to accomplish the objectives described in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1976 IS paragraph (2) with respect to the COVID–19 pan- 1 demic. 2 (2) OBJECTIVES.—The strategy developed pur- 3 suant to paragraph (1) shall address issues relating 4 to— 5 (A) the shortages of vaccines, vaccine com- 6 ponents, any raw materials necessary to pro- 7 ducing such articles, and other supplies nec- 8 essary to carrying out a global vaccination cam- 9 paign, to ensure that there is an adequate sup- 10 ply of vaccines and other necessary articles for 11 all countries; 12 (B) the end-to-end delivery and adminis- 13 tration of vaccines in low- and middle-income 14 countries to ensure that at least 60 percent of 15 the populations in the 92 low- and middle-in- 16 come countries identified by the COVAX initia- 17 tive are vaccinated as soon as possible and not 18 later than the beginning of the second quarter 19 of 2022; and 20 (C) preventing future pandemics by coordi- 21 nating and integrating disease surveillance and 22 early-warning systems, harmonizing early crisis 23 response measures around the world, and lim- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1976 IS iting the potential for spillover events before 1 they happen. 2 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 3 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to 4 be appropriated $34,000,000,000 to carry out the 5 Program established under this section. 6 (2) COORDINATION.—Amounts made available 7 to any Federal department or agency for providing 8 global health assistance or other forms of foreign as- 9 sistance may be made available to the Program, sub- 10 ject to the oversight and coordination of the Direc- 11 tor. 12 (3) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 13 Congress that— 14 (A) approximately $25,000,000,000 of the 15 amount appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) 16 should be made available to scale vaccine manu- 17 facturing capacity and produce vaccines; 18 (B) approximately $8,500,000,000 of such 19 funds should be made available to cover the 20 cost of end-to-end delivery and administration 21 of vaccines in target countries; and 22 (C) approximately $500,000,000 should be 23 made available to establish a global disease sur- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1976 IS veillance network to protect against future 1 pandemics. 2 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY. 3 (a) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the strat- 4 egy developed pursuant to section 3(d)— 5 (1) the Director shall— 6 (A) ensure the immediate release of the 7 80,000,000 doses of vaccine that the United 8 States has already committed to send abroad; 9 (B) reassess the United States vaccine 10 stockpile with regard to domestic vaccination 11 objectives and trends to determine whether fur- 12 ther vaccines can be sent abroad; 13 (C) coordinate with the Biomedical Ad- 14 vanced Research and Development Authority of 15 the Department of Health and Human Services 16 (referred to in this section as ‘‘BARDA’’) to 17 rapidly scale manufacturing capacity in the 18 United States and in regional manufacturing 19 hubs to whatever degree necessary and wher- 20 ever necessary, to produce 8,000,000,000 vac- 21 cine doses as soon as possible, in addition to ex- 22 isting manufacturing capacity; 23 (D) consider the potential benefit of re- 24 gional manufacturing hubs in South America, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1976 IS Africa, and South Asia for the future of global 1 health, especially the potential benefit for ad- 2 dressing future pandemics through the global 3 disease surveillance network implemented pur- 4 suant to paragraph (3); 5 (E) encourage and facilitate technology 6 sharing and the licensing of intellectual prop- 7 erty as much as is necessary to ensure an ade- 8 quate and timely supply of necessary articles; 9 (F) in collaboration with COVAX, ensure 10 equitable access to vaccines, especially vaccines 11 produced through the efforts of BARDA and 12 the Program described in subparagraph (C) and 13 paragraph (2); 14 (G) work with international partners to 15 provide enough vaccines to lower- and middle- 16 income countries to fully vaccinate at least 60 17 percent of their respective populations, with 18 special attention to the 92 lower- and middle- 19 income countries identified by the COVAX ini- 20 tiative as being the most in need of assistance; 21 and 22 (H) consider the central and necessary role 23 that community engagement and public aware- 24 ness will play in ensuring the voluntary uptake 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1976 IS of vaccines by at least 60 percent of the popu- 1 lations in target countries; 2 (2) the Program shall— 3 (A) work closely with host governments, 4 international partners, and other nongovern- 5 mental organizations to develop in-country in- 6 frastructure, personnel, and other assets suffi- 7 cient to deliver vaccines where they are needed 8 and when they are needed, and to administer 9 the vaccines to appropriate target populations; 10 (B) build on existing healthcare delivery 11 infrastructure and relationships developed 12 through the President’s Emergency Plan For 13 AIDS Relief and other pre-existing, bilateral 14 humanitarian aid programs between the United 15 States and the target countries, and through 16 pre-existing multilateral relationships and ini- 17 tiatives in target countries; 18 (C) develop country operational plans tar- 19 geted primarily at lower- and middle-income 20 countries without the infrastructure to manu- 21 facture, acquire, or administer vaccines; 22 (D) monitor how many people in such tar- 23 get countries received inoculations, the infection 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1976 IS rate, and vaccine manufacture status, including 1 as a result of the activities of the Program; and 2 (E) monitor and prepare daily updates re- 3 garding the overall progress in non-targeted 4 countries toward vaccinating their populations 5 and ending the COVID–19 pandemic within 6 their borders, to ensure that the Director re- 7 mains aware of overall global progress toward 8 vaccinating the global population and ending 9 the COVID–19 pandemic worldwide; and 10 (3) following the end or the abatement of the 11 COVID–19 pandemic, the Program should shift to 12 protect against future pandemics by coordinating a 13 global disease surveillance network to identify and 14 stop pathogens with pandemic potential before they 15 spread uncontrollably by— 16 (A) building on existing surveillance and 17 prevention infrastructure and relationships de- 18 veloped through the National Security Council 19 Directorate on Global Health Security and Bio- 20 defense and other pre-existing surveillance and 21 prevention programs; 22 (B) working with international partners to 23 establish a coordinated disease surveillance sys- 24 tem, directly linked to decision makers in for- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1976 IS eign governments and nongovernmental organi- 1 zations, so that certain agreed early-warning 2 metrics would trigger timely and open commu- 3 nication between relevant decision makers 4 around the world; and 5 (C) in addition to monitoring for early 6 warning signs of potential future pandemics, 7 considering how to prevent or limit the poten- 8 tial for new spillover events by which new 9 pathogens with pandemic potential are first 10 transmitted to humans. 11 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 12 gress that— 13 (1) the United States Government played a cru- 14 cial role in the unprecedented rapid development of 15 the COVID–19 vaccines, substantially funding sev- 16 eral vaccine candidates and closely collaborating with 17 Moderna on the NIH-Moderna vaccine; and 18 (2) in the face of a global health emergency, the 19 United States Government has broad authority, in- 20 cluding under the Defense Production Act (50 21 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) and chapter 18 of title 35, 22 United States Code (commonly referred to as the 23 ‘‘Bayh-Dole Act’’), to ensure adequate supply of vac- 24 cines, necessary components, and raw materials 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1976 IS through technology sharing and direct collaboration 1 with manufacturers around the world. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1976.IS S1976 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS