Nullifying Opportunities for Variants to Infect and Decimate Act
Bill: S.1976 | Sponsor: Sen. Merkley, Jeff (D-OR)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Nullifying Opportunities for Variants to Infect and Decimate Act or the NOVID Act
This bill establishes the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Program to coordinate and carry out the U.S. government's global health response to COVID-19, its variants, and other pathogens with pandemic potential.
As part of the program, the bill requires, within 30 days, the development of a comprehensive strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy must outline efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccinations worldwide, including through the immediate release of the COVID-19 vaccine doses that the United States committed to sending abroad.
The bill also requires a long-term strategy for the program to prevent future pandemics.

To establish a program to oversee the global COVID-19 response and 
         prepare for future pandemics, 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 ``Nullifying Opportunities for 
Variants to Infect and Decimate Act'' or the ``NOVID Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States has made tremendous progress towards 
        ending the COVID-19 pandemic within its borders, thanks to an 
        unprecedented and highly successful vaccination campaign 
        spearheaded by the Biden Administration;
            (2) the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage unchecked 
        across much of the world as global vaccination efforts have 
        struggled to keep pace;
            (3) if current trends continue, many middle-income 
        countries may not achieve widespread vaccination until late 
        2022, and the world's poorest nations will not reach widespread 
        vaccination coverage before 2023, if at all;
            (4) the situation overseas threatens progress toward ending 
        the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, since unchecked 
        transmission of COVID-19 gives rise to new variants, many of 
        which show vaccine resistance;
            (5) the most concerning of these variants has been shown to 
        reduce vaccine efficacy by as much as 20 to 40 percent; and
            (6) the United States should take up the mantle of global 
        leadership in the fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic--
                    (A) to protect United States citizens from the 
                emergence of new vaccine-resistant coronavirus 
                variants; and
                    (B) to prevent the kind of humanitarian catastrophe 
                currently occurring in South Asia, South America, and 
                elsewhere.

SEC. 3. PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established the Pandemic Preparedness 
and Response Program (referred to in this as the ``Program'')--
            (1) to oversee the United States government-wide global 
        health response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and
            (2) to protect Americans from the emergence of COVID-19 
        variants and other pathogens with pandemic potential.
    (b) Director.--The President shall appoint the Director of the 
Program (referred to in this Act as the ``Director''), who shall be 
responsible for coordinating among the Federal departments and agencies 
listed in subsection (c)(1) and coordinating the role of the United 
States in the work of international nongovernmental organizations, 
development banks, civil society, and foreign governments, with respect 
to the global health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 
prevention of the emergence of variants or of other pathogens with 
pandemic potential.
    (c) Federal Departments and Agencies.--The Federal departments and 
agencies listed in this subsection are--
            (1) the Department of State;
            (2) the United States Agency for International Development;
            (3) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
            (4) the Food and Drug Administration;
            (5) the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development 
        Authority and the Health Resources and Services Administration 
        of the Department of Health and Human Services;
            (6) the Department of Defense;
            (7) the Peace Corps;
            (8) the Department of Labor; and
            (9) any other department or agency the President determines 
        appropriate.
    (d) Comprehensive Strategy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Director shall develop a 
        comprehensive strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide 
        and to prevent future pandemics, which shall include specific 
        achievable goals to accomplish the objectives described in 
        paragraph (2) with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic.
            (2) Objectives.--The strategy developed pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall address issues relating to--
                    (A) the shortages of vaccines, vaccine components, 
                any raw materials necessary to producing such articles, 
                and other supplies necessary to carrying out a global 
                vaccination campaign, to ensure that there is an 
                adequate supply of vaccines and other necessary 
                articles for all countries;
                    (B) the end-to-end delivery and administration of 
                vaccines in low- and middle-income countries to ensure 
                that at least 60 percent of the populations in the 92 
                low- and middle-income countries identified by the 
                COVAX initiative are vaccinated as soon as possible and 
                not later than the beginning of the second quarter of 
                2022; and
                    (C) preventing future pandemics by coordinating and 
                integrating disease surveillance and early-warning 
                systems, harmonizing early crisis response measures 
                around the world, and limiting the potential for 
                spillover events before they happen.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) Authorization.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        $34,000,000,000 to carry out the Program established under this 
        section.
            (2) Coordination.--Amounts made available to any Federal 
        department or agency for providing global health assistance or 
        other forms of foreign assistance may be made available to the 
        Program, subject to the oversight and coordination of the 
        Director.
            (3) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
                    (A) approximately $25,000,000,000 of the amount 
                appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) should be made 
                available to scale vaccine manufacturing capacity and 
                produce vaccines;
                    (B) approximately $8,500,000,000 of such funds 
                should be made available to cover the cost of end-to-
                end delivery and administration of vaccines in target 
                countries; and
                    (C) approximately $500,000,000 should be made 
                available to establish a global disease surveillance 
                network to protect against future pandemics.

SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY.

    (a) Implementation.--In implementing the strategy developed 
pursuant to section 3(d)--
            (1) the Director shall--
                    (A) ensure the immediate release of the 80,000,000 
                doses of vaccine that the United States has already 
                committed to send abroad;
                    (B) reassess the United States vaccine stockpile 
                with regard to domestic vaccination objectives and 
                trends to determine whether further vaccines can be 
                sent abroad;
                    (C) coordinate with the Biomedical Advanced 
                Research and Development Authority of the Department of 
                Health and Human Services (referred to in this section 
                as ``BARDA'') to rapidly scale manufacturing capacity 
                in the United States and in regional manufacturing hubs 
                to whatever degree necessary and wherever necessary, to 
                produce 8,000,000,000 vaccine doses as soon as 
                possible, in addition to existing manufacturing 
                capacity;
                    (D) consider the potential benefit of regional 
                manufacturing hubs in South America, Africa, and South 
                Asia for the future of global health, especially the 
                potential benefit for addressing future pandemics 
                through the global disease surveillance network 
                implemented pursuant to paragraph (3);
                    (E) encourage and facilitate technology sharing and 
                the licensing of intellectual property as much as is 
                necessary to ensure an adequate and timely supply of 
                necessary articles;
                    (F) in collaboration with COVAX, ensure equitable 
                access to vaccines, especially vaccines produced 
                through the efforts of BARDA and the Program described 
                in subparagraph (C) and paragraph (2);
                    (G) work with international partners to provide 
                enough vaccines to lower- and middle-income countries 
                to fully vaccinate at least 60 percent of their 
                respective populations, with special attention to the 
                92 lower- and middle-income countries identified by the 
                COVAX initiative as being the most in need of 
                assistance; and
                    (H) consider the central and necessary role that 
                community engagement and public awareness will play in 
                ensuring the voluntary uptake of vaccines by at least 
                60 percent of the populations in target countries;
            (2) the Program shall--
                    (A) work closely with host governments, 
                international partners, and other nongovernmental 
                organizations to develop in-country infrastructure, 
                personnel, and other assets sufficient to deliver 
                vaccines where they are needed and when they are 
                needed, and to administer the vaccines to appropriate 
                target populations;
                    (B) build on existing healthcare delivery 
                infrastructure and relationships developed through the 
                President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief and other 
                pre-existing, bilateral humanitarian aid programs 
                between the United States and the target countries, and 
                through pre-existing multilateral relationships and 
                initiatives in target countries;
                    (C) develop country operational plans targeted 
                primarily at lower- and middle-income countries without 
                the infrastructure to manufacture, acquire, or 
                administer vaccines;
                    (D) monitor how many people in such target 
                countries received inoculations, the infection rate, 
                and vaccine manufacture status, including as a result 
                of the activities of the Program; and
                    (E) monitor and prepare daily updates regarding the 
                overall progress in non-targeted countries toward 
                vaccinating their populations and ending the COVID-19 
                pandemic within their borders, to ensure that the 
                Director remains aware of overall global progress 
                toward vaccinating the global population and ending the 
                COVID-19 pandemic worldwide; and
            (3) following the end or the abatement of the COVID-19 
        pandemic, the Program should shift to protect against future 
        pandemics by coordinating a global disease surveillance network 
        to identify and stop pathogens with pandemic potential before 
        they spread uncontrollably by--
                    (A) building on existing surveillance and 
                prevention infrastructure and relationships developed 
                through the National Security Council Directorate on 
                Global Health Security and Biodefense and other pre-
                existing surveillance and prevention programs;
                    (B) working with international partners to 
                establish a coordinated disease surveillance system, 
                directly linked to decision makers in foreign 
                governments and nongovernmental organizations, so that 
                certain agreed early-warning metrics would trigger 
                timely and open communication between relevant decision 
                makers around the world; and
                    (C) in addition to monitoring for early warning 
                signs of potential future pandemics, considering how to 
                prevent or limit the potential for new spillover events 
                by which new pathogens with pandemic potential are 
                first transmitted to humans.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States Government played a crucial role in 
        the unprecedented rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccines, 
        substantially funding several vaccine candidates and closely 
        collaborating with Moderna on the NIH-Moderna vaccine; and
            (2) in the face of a global health emergency, the United 
        States Government has broad authority, including under the 
        Defense Production Act (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) and chapter 18 
        of title 35, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 
        ``Bayh-Dole Act''), to ensure adequate supply of vaccines, 
        necessary components, and raw materials through technology 
        sharing and direct collaboration with manufacturers around the 
        world.
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