II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2307 

To provide for the establishment of COVID–19 and pandemic response centers 

of excellence. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2021 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. BOOZMAN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of COVID–19 and pandemic 

response centers of excellence. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 and Pan5 demic Response Centers of Excellence Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COVID–19 AND PANDEMIC RESPONSE CENTERS OF 

7 EXCELLENCE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 

10 Human Services (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2307.IS S2307

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1 retary’’) shall award grants, contracts, or cooperative 

2 agreements to academic medical centers for the establish3 ment or continued support of not less than 10 centers of 

4 excellence to address issues associated with— 

5 (1) COVID–19, including— 

6 (A) testing and diagnostics, including 

7 availability and accessibility; 

8 (B) patient care, including related follow9 up care for COVID–19 survivors; 

10 (C) best practices in the use of supplies 

11 and therapeutics; 

12 (D) mental health treatment of frontline 

13 health care workers and other caregivers; 

14 (E) health, health care disparities, and 

15 best practices for promoting health equity; 

16 (F) research; and 

17 (G) education and training, including for 

18 health professionals, scientists, and commu19 nities; and 

20 (2) future pandemic preparedness and response, 

21 including the priorities described in paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) working in a coordinated fashion with 

23 the advisory committee under subsection (c) 

24 and respective State and local health authorities 

25 for the purposes of disseminating information, 


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1 best practices, and other such public health-re2 lated measures; and 

3 (B) readiness to conduct or contribute to 

4 basic, clinical, and translational research into 

5 novel or existing public health threats to save 

6 lives, which is not limited to participating in di7 verse clinical trial research or vaccine, diag8 nostic, or therapeutic development, however ap9 propriate. 

10 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant, 

11 contract, or cooperative agreement under subsection (a), 

12 an entity shall— 

13 (1) be an academic medical center; and 

14 (2) submit to the Secretary of Health and 

15 Human Services an application at such time, in such 

16 manner, and containing such information as the Sec17 retary may require, including a description of— 

18 (A) how the entity will conduct or con19 tribute to the activities described in such sub20 section; 

21 (B) how many individuals with COVID–19 

22 the entity has cared for and the entity’s contin23 ued capacity and expertise to provide such care, 

24 and how the entity improves health outcomes, 


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1 and reduces health inequities among such indi2 viduals; 

3 (C) how the entity plans to comprehen4 sively care for COVID–19 survivors; 

5 (D) how the entity identifies and addresses 

6 the mental health needs of the frontline health 

7 care workforce to ensure the ability of such in8 dividuals to continue to care for the community, 

9 in addition to current and future COVID–19 

10 patients; 

11 (E) how the entity will conduct research 

12 and address health and health care inequities 

13 by identifying, implementing, or developing 

14 COVID–19 evidenced-based strategies and 

15 interventions and engaging the populations 

16 heavily impacted by COVID–19 in their com17 munity; 

18 (F) how the entity will engage with the 

19 community and share information concerning 

20 COVID–19 basic, clinical, translational, and 

21 implementation research, including vaccine re22 search; 

23 (G) the most significant risk factors and 

24 comorbidities of COVID–19 patients observed 

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1 tity to reduce the risk of COVID–19 trans2 mission; 

3 (H) the long-term health effects of 

4 COVID–19 and effective treatments utilized by 

5 the entity to treat those infected with COVID– 

6 19; 

7 (I) secondary factors in COVID–19 mobil8 ity and mortality identified by the entity, such 

9 as antibiotic resistant infections and blood clot10 ting disorders; 

11 (J) how the entity will collaborate with 

12 other health care institutions, public health 

13 agencies, and community-based organizations to 

14 ensure equitable care to marginalized and un15 derserved populations, including rural and eth16 nic minority communities; 

17 (K) how the entity will conduct research 

18 involving the unique pathophysiology of 

19 COVID–19 in children and adolescents and the 

20 unique needs of pregnant women; and 

21 (L) how the entity is prepared to con22 tribute to advance planning and real-time re23 sponse efforts for subsequent outbreaks that 

24 present a significant potential to imminently be25 come a national public health emergency. 


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1 (c) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

4 shall establish an advisory committee to facilitate 

5 collaboration, information sharing, and the dissemi6 nation of best practices relating to the COVID–19 

7 pandemic, in addition to preparing for, monitoring, 

8 mitigating, and responding to future pandemics. The 

9 advisory committee shall be composed of a designee 

10 of each of the following: 

11 (A) The Director of the Centers for Dis12 ease Control and Prevention. 

13 (B) The Director of the National Institutes 

14 of Health. 

15 (C) The Commissioner of Food and Drugs. 

16 (D) The Assistant Secretary for Prepared17 ness and Response. 

18 (E) The Director of the Biomedical Ad19 vanced Research and Development Authority. 

20 (F) The Secretary of Defense. 

21 (G) A representative from each center of 

22 excellence under this section. 

23 (H) Not more than 20 representatives 

24 from national organizations that work with and 

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1 ally impacted by COVID–19, and populations 

2 vulnerable for disproportionate impact during a 

3 subsequent pandemic, and other health dispari4 ties. 

5 (2) MEETINGS.—The advisory committee under 

6 paragraph (1) shall convene not less than twice an7 nually. 

8 (d) COVID–19 AND PANDEMIC RESPONSE CENTERS

9 OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM FUND.— 

10 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is es11 tablished a fund to be known as the ‘‘COVID–19 

12 and Pandemic Response Centers of Excellence Pro13 gram Fund’’ (referred to in this section as the 

14 ‘‘Fund’’) to provide awards under this section. 

15 (2) APPROPRIATIONS.—Out of any funds in the 

16 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are au17 thorized to be appropriated, and there are appro18 priated, to the Fund, $500,000,000. 

19 (e) AMOUNT OF AWARD.—With respect to each cen20 ter that receives an award under subsection (a), the 

21 amount of such award shall be not less than $10,000,000 

22 for fiscal year 2021, and $5,000,000 for each of fiscal 

23 years 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. 

24 (f) CONDITION.—Each center of excellence shall, as 

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1 mit to the Secretary a budget that describes the activities 

2 to be funded under the award, which may include the pur3 chasing of equipment, costs related to construction, and 

4 other such activities that contribute to the center’s ability 

5 to address the issues described in subsection (a) and to 

6 address and prepare for future pandemics. 

7 (g) REPORTING PROCESS.—An entity that receives 

8 an award under this section shall work with an office with9 in the Department of Health and Human Services, as des10 ignated by the Secretary, to submit progress reports and 

11 other such reports determined necessary by the Secretary. 

12 (h) ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORTING.—Not later 

13 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

14 every year thereafter, the Advisory Committee shall sub15 mit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

16 Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

17 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report which 

18 shall include a synthesized analysis of all centers of excel19 lence grantee findings, best practices determined for each 

20 item under paragraph (1) and (2) of subsection (a), policy 

21 recommendations, and other reports determined necessary 

22 by the Secretary. 

23 (i) FACA.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

24 U.S.C. App.) shall apply to this Act. 


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1 (j) DISTRIBUTION.—In awarding grants, contracts, 

2 and cooperative agreements under this section, the Sec3 retary shall, to the extent practicable, ensure an equitable 

4 national geographic distribution of such grants, contracts, 

5 and cooperative agreement including areas of the United 

6 States where the incidence of COVID–19 cases, or cases 

7 of a disease responsible for a subsequent pandemic, is 

8 highest. 

9 (k) ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER DEFINED.—In this 

10 section, the term ‘‘academic medical center’’ means an in11 stitution— 

12 (1) with— 

13 (A) integrated health care delivery; 

14 (B) medical education and training; 

15 (C) basic, clinical, translational, and imple16 mentation research operations; and 

17 (2) that meets such other criteria as the Sec18 retary may establish. 

Æ 


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