NOVID Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3778 To establish a program to oversee the global COVID–19 response and prepare for future pandemics, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 8, 2021 Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI (for himself, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. COHEN, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CARSON, and Ms. ROSS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3778 IH SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that— 2 (1) the United States has made tremendous 3 progress towards ending the COVID–19 pandemic 4 within its borders, thanks to an unprecedented and 5 highly successful vaccination campaign spearheaded 6 by the Biden administration; 7 (2) beyond those borders, the pandemic con- 8 tinues to rage unchecked across much of the world 9 as global vaccination efforts have struggled to keep 10 pace; 11 (3) if current trends continue, many middle-in- 12 come countries may not achieve widespread vaccina- 13 tion until late 2022, and the world’s poorest nations 14 will likely not reach widespread vaccination coverage 15 before 2023, if at all; 16 (4) this situation threatens progress toward 17 ending the COVID–19 pandemic here in the United 18 States, as unchecked transmission of COVID–19 19 gives rise to new variants, many of which show vac- 20 cine-resistance; 21 (5) the most concerning of these variants has 22 been shown to reduce vaccine efficacy by as much as 23 20 to 40 percent; and 24 (6) to protect American citizens from the emer- 25 gence of new vaccine-resistant coronavirus variants 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3778 IH and to prevent the kind of humanitarian catastrophe 1 currently occurring in South Asia, South America, 2 and elsewhere, the United States should take up the 3 mantle of global leadership in the fight to end the 4 COVID–19 pandemic. 5 SEC. 3. PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 8 ‘‘Pandemic Preparedness and Response Program’’ (in this 9 Act referred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to be responsible for 10 and provide oversight over the United States government- 11 wide global health response to the COVID–19 pandemic 12 and protect Americans from the emergence of COVID– 13 19 variants and other pathogens with pandemic potential. 14 (b) DIRECTOR.—The Director of the Program shall 15 be appointed by the President. The Director shall be re- 16 sponsible for coordinating among the Federal departments 17 and agencies listed in subsection (c)(1) and coordinating 18 the role of the United States in the work of international 19 non-governmental organizations, development banks, civil 20 society, and foreign governments, with respect to the glob- 21 al health response to the COVID–19 pandemic and the 22 prevention of the emergence of variants or of other patho- 23 gens with pandemic potential. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3778 IH (c) FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.—The 1 Federal departments and agencies listed in this subsection 2 are the following: 3 (1) The Department of State. 4 (2) The United States Agency for International 5 Development. 6 (3) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 7 vention. 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. 16 (9) Any other department or agency the Presi- 17 dent determines appropriate. 18 (d) COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY.—Not later than 30 19 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc- 20 tor shall develop a comprehensive strategy to end the 21 COVID–19 pandemic worldwide, as well as a long-term 22 strategy for preventing future pandemics, that includes 23 specific achievable goals to accomplish the following with 24 respect to the COVID–19 pandemic: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3778 IH (1) With respect to supplies, addressing issues 1 relating to the shortages of vaccines, vaccine compo- 2 nents, and any raw materials necessary to producing 3 these articles, as well as other supplies necessary to 4 carrying out a global vaccination campaign, to en- 5 sure that there is an adequate supply of vaccines 6 and other necessary articles for all countries (taking 7 into account existing manufacturing capacity). 8 (2) With respect to delivery, addressing issues 9 relating to the end-to-end delivery and administra- 10 tion of vaccines in low- and middle-income countries 11 to ensure that at least 60 percent of the populations 12 in the 92 low- and middle-income countries identi- 13 fied by the COVAX initiative are vaccinated as soon 14 as possible and no later than the beginning of the 15 second quarter of 2022. 16 (3) With respect to preventing future 17 pandemics, addressing issues relating to the coordi- 18 nation and integration of disease surveillance and 19 early-warning systems, harmonizing early crisis re- 20 sponse measures around the world, and limiting the 21 potential for spillover events before they happen. 22 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3778 IH (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to 1 be appropriated $34,000,000,000 to carry out the 2 Program established under this section. 3 (2) COORDINATION.—Amounts made available 4 to any Federal department or agency for providing 5 global health assistance or other forms of foreign as- 6 sistance are also authorized to be made available to 7 the Program and shall be subject to the oversight 8 and coordination of the Director. 9 (3) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 10 Congress that— 11 (A) approximately $25,000,000,000 of the 12 amount appropriated pursuant to the authoriza- 13 tion under paragraph (1) should be made avail- 14 able to scale vaccine manufacturing capacity 15 and produce vaccines; 16 (B) approximately $8,500,000,000 of such 17 funds should be made available to cover the 18 cost of end-to-end delivery and administration 19 of vaccines in target countries; and 20 (C) approximately $500,000,000 should be 21 made available to establish a global disease sur- 22 veillance network to protect against future 23 pandemics. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3778 IH SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY. 1 (a) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the strat- 2 egy developed pursuant to section 3(d)— 3 (1) the Director of the Program shall— 4 (A) ensure the immediate release of the 5 80,000,000 doses of vaccine that the United 6 States has already committed to send abroad; 7 (B) reassess the United States vaccine 8 stockpile with regard to domestic vaccination 9 objectives and trends to determine whether fur- 10 ther vaccines can be sent abroad; 11 (C) coordinate with the Biomedical Ad- 12 vanced Research and Development Authority of 13 the Department of Health and Human Services 14 (BARDA) to rapidly scale manufacturing ca- 15 pacity around the world, both in the United 16 States and in regional manufacturing hubs, to 17 whatever degree necessary and wherever nec- 18 essary, to produce 8,000,000,000 vaccine doses 19 as soon as possible, in addition to existing man- 20 ufacturing capacity; 21 (D) consider the potential benefit of re- 22 gional manufacturing hubs in South America, 23 Africa and South Asia for the future of global 24 health more generally, and especially the poten- 25 tial benefit for addressing future pandemics 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3778 IH through the surveillance network implemented 1 pursuant to paragraph (3); 2 (E) encourage and facilitate technology 3 sharing and the licensing of intellectual prop- 4 erty as much as is necessary to ensure an ade- 5 quate and timely supply of necessary articles; 6 (F) in collaboration with COVAX, ensure 7 equitable access to vaccines, especially those 8 produced through the efforts of BARDA and 9 the Program as described in subparagraph (3) 10 and paragraph (2); 11 (G) work with international partners to 12 provide enough vaccines to lower- and middle- 13 income countries to fully vaccinate at least 60 14 percent of their respective populations, with 15 special attention to the 92 lower- and middle- 16 income countries identified by the COVAX ini- 17 tiative as being the most in need of assistance; 18 and 19 (H) consider the central and necessary role 20 that community engagement and public aware- 21 ness will play in ensuring the voluntary uptake 22 of vaccines by at least 60% of the populations 23 in target countries; 24 (2) the Program shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3778 IH (A) work closely with host governments, 1 international partners, and other non-govern- 2 mental organizations to develop in-country in- 3 frastructure, personnel and other assets suffi- 4 cient to deliver vaccines where they are needed, 5 when they are needed, and to administer the 6 vaccines to appropriate target populations; 7 (B) build on existing healthcare delivery 8 infrastructure and relationships developed 9 through the President’s Emergency Plan For 10 AIDS Relief and other pre-existing, bilateral 11 humanitarian aid programs between the United 12 States and the target countries, as well as 13 through pre-existing multilateral relationships 14 and initiatives in target countries; 15 (C) develop country operational plans tar- 16 geted primarily at lower- and middle-income 17 countries without the infrastructure to manu- 18 facture, acquire, or administer vaccines on their 19 own; 20 (D) monitor how many people in such tar- 21 get countries received inoculations, the infection 22 rate, and vaccine manufacture status, including 23 as a result of the activities of the Program; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3778 IH (E) monitor and prepare, on a daily basis, 1 updates on the overall progress in non-targeted 2 countries toward vaccinating their populations 3 and ending the COVID–19 pandemic within 4 their borders, to ensure that the Director re- 5 mains aware of overall global progress toward 6 vaccinating the global population and ending 7 the COVID–19 pandemic worldwide; and 8 (3) following the end or abatement of the 9 COVID–19 pandemic, the Program should shift to 10 protect against future pandemics by coordinating a 11 global disease surveillance network to identify and 12 stop pathogens with pandemic potential before they 13 spread uncontrollably by— 14 (A) building on existing surveillance and 15 prevention infrastructure and relationships de- 16 veloped through the National Security Council 17 Directorate on Global Health Security and Bio- 18 defense as well as other pre-existing surveillance 19 and prevention programs; 20 (B) working with international partners to 21 establish a coordinated disease surveillance sys- 22 tem, directly linked to decision-makers in for- 23 eign governments and non-governmental organi- 24 zations, such that certain agreed early-warning 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3778 IH metrics would trigger timely and open commu- 1 nication between relevant decision-makers 2 around the world; and 3 (C) in addition to monitoring for early- 4 warning signs of potential future pandemics, 5 consider how to prevent or limit the potential 6 for new spillover events by which new pathogens 7 with pandemic potential are first transmitted to 8 humans. 9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 10 gress that— 11 (1) the United States Government played a cru- 12 cial role in the unprecedented rapid development of 13 the COVID–19 vaccines, substantially funding sev- 14 eral vaccine candidates and closely collaborating with 15 Moderna on the NIH-Moderna vaccine; and 16 (2) in the face of a global health emergency, the 17 United States Government has broad authority, in- 18 cluding under the Defense Production Act (50 19 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) and chapter 18 of title 35, 20 United States Code (commonly referred to as the 21 ‘‘Bayh-Dole Act’’), to ensure adequate supply of vac- 22 cines, necessary components, and raw materials 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3778 IH through technology sharing and direct collaboration 1 with manufacturers around the world. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:58 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3778.IH H3778 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS