Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) forwarded correspondence Wednesday to Trump administration officials regarding an updated national COVID-19 vaccine plan.
Pallone and DeGette recently sent a second oversight letter to White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar.
“As the pursuit for a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine moves forward, we are concerned that the Trump Administration has yet to finalize and release a national COVID-19 vaccine plan,” wrote Pallone and DeGette, Energy and Commerce chairman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chair, respectively. “Alarmingly, in the absence of a comprehensive plan, the Administration appears to be making decisions without the input of public health partners or consideration for the existing infrastructure the nation has long relied upon for the allocation, distribution, and tracking of vaccines. While the Administration has awarded billions of dollars for the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, Congress, key public health stakeholders, and the American people have yet to be informed about how the Administration intends to ensure the equitable distribution of a vaccine once it is available.”
Pallone and DeGette also expressed concern over the lack of cross-agency coordination on vaccine distribution, requesting
a briefing on the full scope of Operation Warp Speed (OWS) and answers to a series of questions from both the May 21 letter and the August 5 letter by Aug. 19, 2020.