July 23, 2020

Dear Friends,

This morning, I joined WBAP 820 to discuss this week’s Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing with five companies working to develop COVID-19 vaccines.

National Updates
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense announced a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer to support the production and delivery of the first 100 million doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine upon successful FDA approval. Should this vaccine obtain approval, this agreement will speed the process of making the vaccine available to the American public.

• HHS announced a National COVID-19 Testing Implementation Forum that will bring together key stakeholder groups to provide input to federal leaders about COVID-19 testing and diagnostics.

The National Institutes of Health published a framework for increased quantity and quality of COVID-19 tests.

The Department of Justice has charged two hackers, both nationals and residents of China, for breaching the computer systems of hundreds of companies, governments, non-governmental organizations, and others, targeting intellectual property and confidential business information, including COVID-19 research.

The FDA published results on a study on cancer patients with COVID-19.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced initiatives designed to protect nursing home residents from COVID-19, including $5 billon in funding, increased testing, technical support, and weekly data reporting.

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reported that COVID-19 binds tightly to the blood thinner heparin. As a result, heparin is a potential decoy that could serve as a way to neutralize the virus before it can infect healthy cells.


Until next time, this is your doctor's note.

Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D.