COVID–19 Vaccine Distribution and Production Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8508 To require the President to use authorities under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to require emergency production of the supplies necessary for distributing and administering the COVID–19 vaccine, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 2, 2020 Mr. CRIST (for himself, Mr. POCAN, and Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To require the President to use authorities under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to require emergency production of the supplies necessary for distributing and admin- istering the COVID–19 vaccine, 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 ‘‘COVID–19 Vaccine 4 Distribution and Production Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8508.IH H8508 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8508 IH SEC. 2. EMERGENCY PRODUCTION OF THE SUPPLIES NEC- 1 ESSARY FOR EQUITABLY DISTRIBUTING AND 2 ADMINISTERING THE COVID–19 VACCINE. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 day after the 4 date of the enactment of this section, the President shall— 5 (1) determine under section 101(b) of the De- 6 fense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4511(b)) 7 that— 8 (A) supplies necessary for equitably dis- 9 tributing and administering the COVID–19 vac- 10 cine are a scarce and critical material essential 11 to the national defense; and 12 (B) the requirements of the national de- 13 fense for the supplies necessary for equitably 14 distributing and administering the COVID–19 15 vaccine cannot be met without exercising the 16 authorities provided by the Defense Production 17 Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.); 18 (2) identify private sector capacity to produce 19 the supplies necessary for equitably distributing and 20 administering the COVID–19 vaccine; and 21 (3) exercise the authorities provided by the De- 22 fense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et 23 seq.) to the extent necessary— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8508.IH H8508 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8508 IH (A) to require emergency production of the 1 supplies necessary for equitably distributing 2 and administering the COVID–19 vaccine; and 3 (B) to establish a fair and reasonable price 4 for the sale of the supplies produced pursuant 5 to subparagraph (A). 6 (b) COORDINATION.—The President shall coordinate 7 and direct the equitable distribution of the supplies pro- 8 duced under subsection (a)(3)(A) based on— 9 (1) requests submitted to the President by the 10 Governors of the States; and 11 (2) the needs of the States, as determined 12 based on the populations of each State. 13 (c) FUNDING.—Amounts available in the Defense 14 Production Act Fund under section 304 of the Defense 15 Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4534) shall be avail- 16 able to carry out this section. 17 (d) TERMINATION.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall terminate 19 on the date on which there are no remaining re- 20 quests under subsection (b)(1). 21 (2) DISPOSITION OF UNUSED SUPPLIES NEC- 22 ESSARY FOR EQUITABLY DISTRIBUTING OR ADMIN- 23 ISTERING THE COVID–19 VACCINE.—Any supplies 24 produced pursuant to subsection (a)(3)(A) using 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8508.IH H8508 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8508 IH amounts from the Defense Production Act Fund and 1 unused as of the date described in paragraph (1) 2 shall be deposited in the Strategic National Stock- 3 pile under section 319F–2 of the Public Health 4 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–6b), including any 5 such supplies authorized for emergency use under 6 section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos- 7 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3). 8 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 (1) COVID–19 VACCINE.—The term ‘‘COVID– 10 19 vaccine’’ means a vaccine to prevent or mitigate 11 COVID–19 that the Food and Drug Administration 12 licenses or authorizes for emergency use. 13 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the 14 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 15 Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 16 and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 17 lands. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8508.IH H8508 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS