COVID–19 Vaccine Distribution and Production Act

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Production Act

This bill requires the President to, within one day, exercise certain authorities under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to obtain supplies necessary to distribute and administer COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) vaccines. That act confers on the President a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry in order to provide essential materials and goods for the national defense.

The President must allocate these supplies based on requests from governors and the needs of the states as determined by the population of each state.

The bill's directive to use these authorities terminates when all requests from the states have been fulfilled. Supplies that have been produced but are unused at that time must be deposited into the Strategic National Stockpile.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8508 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 administering the COVID-19 vaccine, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and 
Production Act''.

SEC. 2. EMERGENCY PRODUCTION OF THE SUPPLIES NECESSARY FOR EQUITABLY 
              DISTRIBUTING AND ADMINISTERING THE COVID-19 VACCINE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 day after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the President shall--
            (1) determine under section 101(b) of the Defense 
        Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4511(b)) that--
                    (A) supplies necessary for equitably distributing 
                and administering the COVID-19 vaccine are a scarce and 
                critical material essential to the national defense; 
                and
                    (B) the requirements of the national defense for 
                the supplies necessary for equitably distributing and 
                administering the COVID-19 vaccine cannot be met 
                without exercising the authorities provided by the 
                Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et 
                seq.);
            (2) identify private sector capacity to produce the 
        supplies necessary for equitably distributing and administering 
        the COVID-19 vaccine; and
            (3) exercise the authorities provided by the Defense 
        Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) to the extent 
        necessary--
                    (A) to require emergency production of the supplies 
                necessary for equitably distributing and administering 
                the COVID-19 vaccine; and
                    (B) to establish a fair and reasonable price for 
                the sale of the supplies produced pursuant to 
                subparagraph (A).
    (b) Coordination.--The President shall coordinate and direct the 
equitable distribution of the supplies produced under subsection 
(a)(3)(A) based on--
            (1) requests submitted to the President by the Governors of 
        the States; and
            (2) the needs of the States, as determined based on the 
        populations of each State.
    (c) Funding.--Amounts available in the Defense Production Act Fund 
under section 304 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 
4534) shall be available to carry out this section.
    (d) Termination.--
            (1) In general.--This section shall terminate on the date 
        on which there are no remaining requests under subsection 
        (b)(1).
            (2) Disposition of unused supplies necessary for equitably 
        distributing or administering the covid-19 vaccine.--Any 
        supplies produced pursuant to subsection (a)(3)(A) using 
        amounts from the Defense Production Act Fund and unused as of 
        the date described in paragraph (1) shall be deposited in the 
        Strategic National Stockpile under section 319F-2 of the Public 
        Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d-6b), including any such 
        supplies authorized for emergency use under section 564 of the 
        Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb-3).
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) COVID-19 vaccine.--The term ``COVID-19 vaccine'' means 
        a vaccine to prevent or mitigate COVID-19 that the Food and 
        Drug Administration licenses or authorizes for emergency use.
            (2) State.--The term ``State'' includes the District of 
        Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
        Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands.
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