Select Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on the Urgent Need for Accelerated Global Coronavirus Vaccination Efforts

Dec 10, 2021
Press Release

Washington, D.C. (December 10, 2021) — On Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. E.T., Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, will hold a remote hearing examining the urgent need to accelerate global coronavirus vaccination efforts and the critical role that these efforts play in our nation’s public health and economic recovery. The hearing comes amid growing concerns of the potential impact of the Omicron variant and follows President Biden’s announcement of additional actions to combat the coronavirus in the United States and his pledge to donate 1.2 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to countries around the world.

Nearly 8 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, but deep inequities persist in vaccine distribution. The vast majority of these vaccines have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries while low-income countries—most of which are in Africa and the Middle East—have received less than one percent of these shots. Experts have warned that inconsistent vaccination rates have allowed the coronavirus to continue to spread worldwide and may lead to the emergence of new variants, such as the Omicron variant.

The American public continues to suffer significant harm from the resulting global outbreaks and new variants, which can lead to unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths, slowed economic recovery, and price hikes and product shortages caused by disruptions in the global supply chain. The Biden-Harris Administration has led the world’s global vaccination campaign, bringing America and the world closer to a complete recovery, but continued efforts must be made to accelerate global vaccine distribution in order to save lives and livelihoods by curbing the spread of the virus.

WHAT:  

Remote Hearing on “A Global Crisis Needs a Global Solution:  The Urgent Need to Accelerate Vaccinations Around the World.”

WHEN:

2:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 14, 2021

WHO:    

 
  • Dr. Ali Khan, Dean, College of Public Health, Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center
  • Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, Associate Director for Innovation, Duke Global Health Institute, Associate Professor of Global Health and Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Director, Duke Global Health Innovation Center
  • Dr. Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Professor of Economics, University of Maryland
  • Dr. Katheryn Russ, Professor, Department of Economics, University of California, Davis
  • Dr. Martin Makary (minority witness), Professor of Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

WATCH: 

Livestream will be available on YouTube, the Select Subcommittee website.

 

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117th Congress