Larson Pushes for U.S. to Help to Ramp Up Global Vaccine Production

Washington, D.C. - During today's House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the Biden Administration's 2021 Trade Policy Agenda with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01) pushed for the United States to take steps to ramp up global vaccine production and to distribute the vaccine to places like India and Bangladesh.

Watch Larson's and Ambassador Tai's exchange here.

"COVID-19 has had devastating health and economic implications here in the United States. We were able to accelerate vaccine production and now more than half of adults in the United States have gotten at least one dose. However, the rest of the world is not as fortunate and the news from India and Bangladesh are extremely concerning. We desperately need to ramp up the production and distribution of vaccines for the rest of the world and I believe every option needs to be on the table.

"MD Rahman, of Manchester, CT, who immigrated from Bangladesh, has set up a vaccine clinic at a Bangladesh community center on Delmont Street in Manchester, CT that is a model for how to get vaccines into the community. I recently had the opportunity to visit that community center and met many Bangladeshi-Americans who have friends and relatives in Bangladesh. They are understandably very worried about them and highlighted the need to increase global access to COVID vaccines, particularly to hot spots like India and Bangladesh.

"This is critical, as we will not defeat this virus unless we defeat it globally. It is essential that we consider all options to ramp up global production and distribution to help combat this virus across the world."