Government unlikely to repeat Operation Warpspeed success
Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra disregarded expectations The Biden administration could carry out Operation Warp Speed again in developing the next-generation coronavirus vaccine — unless the effort gets more funding from Congress.
A recent deal to raise the debt ceiling secured nearly $5 billion in funding for Project NextGen, which aims to develop vaccines and treatments for the novel coronavirus.
But in an interview with White House correspondent Adam Canklin, Becerra lamented that Congress hadn’t funded it like it did with Operation Warp Speed.
“We are developing some really innovative approaches and treatments,” Becerra said. “Here’s the difference…they actually had trillions of dollars.”
That was too much. Operation Warp Speed did not make “trillions of dollars,” but received an estimated $18 billion.
opioid crisis could get worse
Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said drug overdose deaths could reach 165,000 annually by 2025, about 55,000 more than last year. .
At the same time, he said the number of people who die each year could be halved if President Joe Biden’s policies to deal with the crisis, such as funding treatment for people in prison and expanding telemedicine, are implemented. Stated.
Artificial intelligence could transform healthcare if government and industry can set the standard
“We need a very robust set of guidelines when it comes to fairness and bias checks,” said Hersh Jain, senior vice president of federal affairs and public health officer at Palantir Technologies, a software developer in Denver. .
Jain said the federal government and industry should work together to develop guardrails to avoid a patchwork of state-made regulations.
Moderna’s chief legal officer, Shannon Thyme-Klinger, said AI could accelerate vaccine development and help drug companies enroll more diverse people in clinical trials.
Racial disparities remain a major public health challenge
member of parliament Jamal Bowman (DN.Y.) lamented that racial disparities in health continue and that “transformative legislation” will be needed to counter them.
“We have to talk about dismantling the system built on racism and colonization,” he said.
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Sol Flores also agreed with Bowman’s assessment, saying state and federal officials need to work together to advance health care equity, especially as Medicaid is eased. rice field.
Redefining Medicaid entitlements post-pandemic will threaten the most vulnerable patients if not handled with caution, they said.
Democrats are at war with the pharmaceutical industry
member of parliament Debbie Dingell The Michigan lawmaker was among the Democratic panelists who lashed out at pharmaceutical company Merck Co. for suing Medicare in a congressional mandate last year to block drug price negotiations. Inflation control law.
“If you live in this country and get sick, you should go to a doctor and get the medicine you need and the treatment you need,” Dingel said.
She accused the New Jersey pharmaceutical giant of running away from the Americans and echoed Merck’s claims in the lawsuit that the negotiations “equate to extortion.”
“I call extortion when they raise the price of medicine above inflation for the elderly who have no choice. Even though,” Dingell said.
Becerra, meanwhile, said price negotiations were “as American as apple pie.”
