Drug execs face Capitol Hill questions on vaccine supply

Drug execs face Capitol Hill questions on vaccine supply

SeattlePI.com

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Executives from the major COVID-19 vaccine producers answered questions Tuesday from Congress about expanding the supply of shots needed to curb the pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.

The hearing comes as U.S. vaccinations continue to accelerate after a sluggish start and recent disruptions caused by winter weather. But state health officials say demand for inoculations still vastly outstrips the limited weekly shipments provided by the federal government.

The Energy and Commerce Committee panel began hearing testimony from the five companies with contracts to supply COVID-19 shots to the U.S.: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax.

“The most pressing challenge now is the lack of supply of vaccine doses,” Rep. Diana DeGette said as she opened the hearing. "Some of the companies here today are still short of the number of doses they promised to initially deliver when they last testified before this subcommittee in July.”

DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, chairs the investigative subcommittee that convened Tuesday's hearing. She urged "a straightforward assessment of where the manufacturing process stands.”

The pharmaceutical executives are expected to face pointed questions about whether shortages of raw materials, manpower or funding are limiting the pace of manufacturing. Lawmakers are also expected to ask whether further use of the Defense Production Act — a Cold War-era law used to compel private-sector manufacturing — could help speed the process.

In written testimony released Monday, company executives did not describe shortages or other bottlenecks that have not already been addressed.

More than 75 million doses of the two-shot-regimen vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have already been...

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