U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) pressed the Trump administration this week to secure the medical supplies necessary to help immunize Americans against COVID-19 once such a vaccine is created.
These include things like needles, syringes, or other delivery devices. Such supplies have been compromised in recent months by a medical supply chain that has, historically, sourced from abroad. Personal protective equipment, prescription drugs, and even ventilators are often made overseas and shipped over — a system that has been taxed by lockdowns and individual countries’ needs in the face of a pandemic. Peters pointed out that not having the ability to deliver a vaccine would be as devastating as not finding one.
“The successful development and approval of a safe, effective Coronavirus vaccine will not truly save lives until we can ensure the widespread availability of delivery devices necessary to administer the vaccine,” Peters said. “We must move rapidly and seamlessly from development and testing to nationwide deployment. That effort must be underway now.”
In 2019, Peters warned of overreliance on foreign manufacturers for the medical supply chain, in a paper titled A Price Too High. That report found that the United States was unprepared to deliver vaccinations in a way that could combat a pandemic and could not domestically manufacture enough supplies. Recommendations were made to counter this, from identifying alternatives to potentially developing advanced manufacturing capabilities at home, but the nation was still unprepared when COVID-19 struck.
Now, Peters has warned the administration once more to move aggressively and shore up those gaps. He asked that by May 18, Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar provide him with details on how the White House Coronavirus Task Force and HHS intend to ensure sufficient production and delivery of a vaccine once developed.