I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5287 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to honor the contributions of all 
of those whose efforts led to the successful development of life saving 
vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 
Mr. RUSH (for himself and Mr. KATKO) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to 
the Committees on House Administration, and the Budget, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to honor the contribu-
tions of all of those whose efforts led to the successful 
development of life saving vaccines to combat the novel 
coronavirus. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Vaccine 
Developers Gold Medal Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The public-private partnership, Operation 
Warp Speed, sought to develop, manufacture, and 
ship 300,000,000 doses of COVID–19 vaccines 
around the United States. 
(2) This effort would not have been possible 
without researchers, scientists, doctors, epidemiolo-
gists, and others around the world who have worked 
tirelessly and collaboratively to develop lifesaving 
vaccines to combat the coronavirus by reducing the 
likelihood of transmission, building immune resil-
iency, avoiding hospitalizations, and reducing the 
likelihood of death. 
(3) Through the academic, research, and ana-
lytic expertise of universities and their faculty, re-
searchers, and students, their efforts contributed to 
providing valuable information to the public on the 
severity of the coronavirus worldwide and, in some 
cases, contributed to vaccine development. 
(4) Several of the resulting vaccines represent 
historic breakthroughs in biopharmaceutical tech-
nology, which are predicated on years of leading re-
search conducted in laboratories and hospitals that 
benefit from the significant financial investment of 
United States taxpayers through the Department of 
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Health and Human Services, the National Institutes 
of Health, including the National Institute of Allergy 
and Infectious Diseases, and the Biomedical Ad-
vanced Research and Development Authority. 
(5) As a response to COVID–19, Congress pro-
vided $47,600,000,000 for the effort to support the 
private sector’s research and development into effec-
tive technologies, the scale-up of manufacturing ca-
pacity for promising vaccine candidates, and the dis-
tribution of vaccines that received emergency use au-
thorization by the Food and Drug Administration. 
(6) These professionals worked under record 
timelines to develop safe, effective vaccines dem-
onstrated in trials and granted emergency use au-
thorization by the Food and Drug Administration. It 
shattered the typical timeline for vaccine develop-
ment and production from over a decade to less than 
12 months. 
(7) The first vaccine trial volunteers who lined 
up to have shots administered in their arms paved 
the way for emergency use authorization by the 
Food and Drug Administration and the hundreds of 
millions of people of the United States that have 
since been vaccinated. 
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(8) These remarkable achievements in medical 
science will have positive implications for future vac-
cine development, helping to combat new viruses, 
leading to improvements in health and well-being. 
(9) The tremendous efforts in vaccine develop-
ment can be celebrated and attributed to building di-
verse teams, including the notable efforts of many 
individuals across the planet. 
(10) Vaccines authorized for emergency use in 
the United States benefitted greatly from global co-
operation, strategic partnerships, and collaboration 
with publicly funded agencies and research capabili-
ties of the academic community. 
(11) As a result of the collaborative efforts, 
people around the world are benefitting from the ad-
ministration of vaccines, although work remains to 
support governments around the world in ensuring 
vaccines are equitably distributed. 
(12) The United States, including through co-
operation with bilateral and multilateral partner-
ships, can help scale up manufacturing and distribu-
tion to all corners of the globe. 
(13) Operation Warp Speed successfully laid 
the groundwork for reopening the United States 
economy, contributing to the safety of the people of 
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the United States, the reunion of families, and is the 
greatest medical achievement in modern times. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single 
gold medal of appropriate design in recognition of all those 
whose efforts led to the successful development of vaccines 
that received emergency use authorizations to respond to 
the coronavirus. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 
award under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 
(referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike 
a gold medal described in that subsection with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by 
the Secretary. 
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—After the award of the gold 
medal under subsection (a), the medal shall be given 
to the Smithsonian Institution where the medal shall 
be— 
(A) available for display, as appropriate; 
and 
(B) made available for research. 
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(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 
make the gold medal received under this Act avail-
able for— 
(A) the purpose of education, research, and 
the encouragement of science, technology, engi-
neering, and math professions through the 
Smithsonian Science Education Center; and 
(B) display elsewhere, particularly at other 
locations or events associated with Operation 
Warp Speed or COVID–19 vaccine develop-
ment. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may strike and sell 
duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under sec-
tion 3 at a price sufficient to cover the cost of the medals, 
including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 
4 shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public En-
terprise Fund. 
(c) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
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essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 
this Act. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 
of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 
SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 
shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 
titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 
Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 
by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro-
vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 
vote on passage. 
Æ 
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