Claim: Senators: Double funding for universal flu vaccine research.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Influenza research
text: H5N1 contained, limiting its speed and extent of mutation, and buying time for new flu vaccine manufacturing methods and factories to come on line so that when the next flu pandemic happens the death toll can be minimized. See Prospects for universal flu vaccines The US government on May 4, 2006 awarded five-year contracts for "more than $1 billion to five drug manufacturers developing technology for speedier mass production of vaccines in the event of a pandemic" from the $3.8 billion pandemic preparedness bill passed in 2005. "The federal government says its goal is to be able to distribute a

title: Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005
text: top recipient in the Senate was the bill's sponsor, Senator Richard Burr, who received $288,684, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. Senator Burr said the legislation "creates a true partnership" between the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and academia to "walk the drug companies through the Valley of Death" in bringing a new vaccine or drug to market. Exemptions from open records and meetings laws would streamline the development process, safeguard national security and protect the proprietary interests of drug companies, say Republican backers of the bill. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) said "Their plan will protect companies that

title: Prizes as an alternative to patents
text: Foundation have tried such a prize fund model. In their model, all applicants for funding from the Gates foundation must waive all claims to patents. “A World Health Organization (WHO) report, called 'Research and Development to Meet health Needs in Developing Countries', backs prize funds, saying it is a financially viable model” In 2012 the two bills were referred to the committee level in the Senate. They have not been put to a vote in either the Senate or the House. In 2009-2010 only 3% of all bills proposed in the senate were enacted. US President Barack Obama has pushed

title: Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act
text: purview of the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). PREPA provides $3.8 billion for pandemic influenza preparedness to protect public health in the case of a pandemic disease outbreak. Vaccine manufacturers lobbied for the legislation, which would effectively preempt state vaccine safety laws in the case of an emergency declaration by HHS, by making clear they would not produce new vaccines unless the legislation was enacted. Legislative leaders Senator Bill Frist and Congressman Dennis Hastert were among the backers of PREPA legislation, which was tacked onto the end of a defense-spending bill (HR 2863). Of the $3.8 billion earmarked

title: 2017–18 United States flu season
text: cases in seven days, making it the state's highest weekly total on record. On February 11, 2018, United States Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota announced a new bill called the Flu Vaccine Act, calling for further research on a better vaccine at the US National Institutes of Health. At the time, there had been 400 outbreaks of flu that season in Minnesota's schools, and 130 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, with one child in the state dying. Additionally, Klobuchar continued to push the US Food and Drug Administration to fix the national IV bag and saline shortage, for adversely affecting

title: 2009 flu pandemic in the Philippines
text: day, in a hearing at the Philippine House of Representatives (Congress), Health secretary Francisco Duque requested PhP 19.8 billion fund for H1N1 resistance. He said that the money will be used for buying vaccines (PhP 16 billion), subsidizing poor patients and assistance to the families of poor victims (PhP 3 billion), and implementing rules and rehabilitation of target hospitals for H1N1 patients (PhP 800 million). The Congress questioned the amount of fund largely it is too huge to award and that there are no vaccine yet to buy. On the same hand, Iloilo Representative Ferjenel Biron, also the chairman of

title: Universal flu vaccine
text: a flu vaccine, and announced it was seeking a corporate partner. In 2010, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the U.S. NIH announced a breakthrough; the effort targets the stem, which mutates less often than the head of the virus. By 2010 some universal flu vaccines had started clinical trials. Other companies pursuing the vaccine as of 2009 and 2010 include Theraclone, VaxInnate, Crucell NV, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) and iQur. Universal flu vaccine A universal flu vaccine is flu vaccine that is effective against all influenza virus strains regardless of the virus subtype

title: The Grand Challenges in Global Health
text: Committee of the scientific board and staff members from FNIH and BMGF reviewed the projects to move into the negotiations for grants. In May 2005, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave an additional $250 million to fund research for the initiative, bringing the foundation's commitment to $450 million. In June 2005, the initiative announced grants for 43 new projects, attracting international partners. Today, the work towards revolutionary advances in global health continues. 44 separate research projects are currently being managed, and solving even one of the 14 challenges could potentially improve the lives of millions. Goal 1: Improve Vaccines

title: Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005
text: Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 The Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 (), nicknamed "Bioshield Two" and sponsored by Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), aims shorten the pharmaceutical development process for new vaccines and drugs in case of a pandemic, and to protect vaccine makers and the pharmaceutical industry from legal liability for vaccine injuries. The proposed bill would create a new federal agency, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), that would act "as the single point of authority" to promote advanced research and development of drugs and vaccines

title: Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act
text: planning. The bill would authorize $12.6 million out of the 10-Year Pediatric Research Initiative Fund for each of FY2014-FY2023 for pediatric research through the Common Fund. Requires such funds to supplement, not supplant, funds otherwise allocated by NIH for pediatric research. Prohibits the use of such amounts for any purpose other than allocating funds for making grants for pediatric research described in this Act. "This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, a public domain source." H.R. 2019 would amend federal law to end the taxpayers' option to designate a portion of their federal

title: 2009 flu pandemic vaccine
text: whether a new vaccine was worth the unknown benefits. Representatives Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun, for instance, were not convinced that the U.S. should spend up to US$2 billion to produce one, with Gingrey stating "We can't let all of our spending and our reaction be media-driven in responding to a panic so that we don't get Katrina-ed. ... It's important because what we are talking about as we discuss the appropriateness of spending $2 billion to produce a vaccine that may never be used – that is a very important decision that our country has to make." In fact,

title: Influenza research
text: hard hit. How to best spend pandemic mitigation funds and poultry farming protection funds is a question that to be answered requires billions in flu research and new flu vaccine manufacturing factories. Since avian flu is not going away as was hoped, more data is needed to figure out how best to cope. Governments are funding a variety of studies from cell culture of flu viruses to H5N1 vaccination effectiveness to adjuvants to wild bird migration patterns to wild bird avian flu subtype distribution to poultry flu vaccination etc. The information being gathered is increasing the world's ability to keep

title: 1976 swine flu outbreak
text: of the flu strain to the 1918 outbreak. President Gerald Ford is officially informed of the outbreak memo on March 15 and the suggested immunization program. He meets with a "blue ribbon" panel which includes Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin. Ford then makes a televised announcement in support of the mass immunization program. A hearing is held before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and C. Joseph Stetler, drug company spokesman, requests government indemnity for the vaccine manufacturers. The House Appropriations Committee reports out a special appropriations bill including $135

title: Influenza pandemic
text: pandemic phases; and recommended actions for before, during, and after a pandemic. "[E]fforts by the federal government to prepare for pandemic influenza at the national level include a $100 million DHHS initiative in 2003 to build U.S. vaccine production. Several agencies within Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) – including the Office of the Secretary, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) – are in the process of working with vaccine manufacturers to facilitate production of pilot vaccine lots for both H5N1 and H9N2 strains as well as contracting

title: Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act
text: years, the private sector has become more skeptical of the government's commitment to biodefense," testified Brent MacGregor of Seqirus, a global influenza vaccine developer and manufacturer. Like many laws that authorize activities for federal agencies, PAHPA must be reauthorized by its expiration date in order for the law to continue taking effect. As of January 2018, most of the provisions in PAHPA are set to expire in September 2018. The Senate HELP Committee started the process of reauthorizing the law with a set of hearings beginning on January 17, 2018. U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) sponsored both Senate versions of

title: Universal flu vaccine
text: Universal flu vaccine A universal flu vaccine is flu vaccine that is effective against all influenza virus strains regardless of the virus subtype or viral genetic drift. Hence it should not require modification from year to year. As of 2017, there was no approved universal flu vaccine for general use, but several have been in development. On February 13, 2013, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Chief Scientist Jesse Goodman predicted that a universal flu vaccine was still at least 5 to 10 years away. When asked about the prospects of a universal flu vaccine in a hearing before House

title: Influenza vaccine
text: approved four vaccines against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus (the 2009 pandemic strain), and expected the initial vaccine lots to be available within the following month. A quadrivalent flu vaccine administered by nasal mist was approved by the FDA in March 2012. Fluarix Quadrivalent was approved by the FDA in December 2012. A "universal vaccine" that would not have to be designed and made for each flu season in each hemisphere would be useful, in order to stabilize the supply and to ensure against error in the design or escape of the circulating strains by mutation. Such a vaccine has

title: Universal flu vaccine
text: state that "developing new and improved vaccines is a high priority". The BIO2016 convention featured a panel discussion titled "Solving the Flu Problem: Can New Technologies Lead to Universal Flu Vaccines?" featuring speakers from BARDA and industry. Some people given a 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine have developed broadly protective antibodies, raising hopes for a universal flu vaccine. A 'vaccine'/antigen based on the hemagglutinin (HA) stem was the first to induce 'broadly neutralizing' antibodies to both HA-group 1 and HA-group 2 influenza in mice. In July 2011, researchers created an antibody, which targets a protein found on the surface of all

title: Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts
text: towards policies that advance the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. PACE Global Leadership Award recipients include: Dr. Thomas Cherian, who has helped accelerate the surveillance of pneumonia throughout the developing world and contributed to research on the global pneumococcal disease burden. The Health Minister of Rwanda – the first country in Africa to introduce pneumococcal conjugate vaccines; and the Health Minister of Costa Rica – the first country in Latin America to implement a nationwide vaccination program. On November 20, 2007, PACE's European launch took place in Prague, Czech Republic with representatives from professional societies, PACE member Pavla Krizova, and

title: James Love (NGO director)
text: global treaty on medical research and development that would replace blinding norms on patents and other intellectual property rights for medicines. The second was a comprehensive access to knowledge treaty. In 2005, Representative Bernie Sanders introduced the first of several "Medical Innovation Prize Fund" bills designed to eliminate drug monopolies, one of the reforms coming out of the 2002 Aventis scenario sessions. The 2005 prize fund bill, which was drafted in 2004, created a large fund, set at 50 basis points of US GDP, to reward developers of new drugs, on the basis of "the incremental therapeutic benefit" of a