Today, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Democratic colleagues reintroduced legislation to strengthen oversight of federal funds invested in COVID-19 research and development, and to protect patients from being price-gouged on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines developed with taxpayer dollars.
Today, UnidosUS Action Fund and Lower Drug Prices Now released a new report, A Vicious Cycle of Health Inequity, that highlights the disproportionate impact of high prescription drug prices on Latinos in the US, and shows that Latinos overwhelmingly want their elected leaders to take action to lower drug costs.
Each day that goes by, it becomes clearer that urgent action is needed to lower the price of prescription drugs. Americans pay too much for prescription medicines whether out-of-pocket at the pharmacy, through high health insurance premiums, or through taxes to help pay for Medicare as well as an array of tax breaks for the prescription drug industry.
History was made in more ways than one today. Raphael Warnock became the first Black Senator and Jon Ossoff the first Jewish Senator to represent the state of Georgia in Washington, DC.
Big Pharma has jumped on the bandwagon of industries hoping to get a PR boost out of the attack on the Capitol. For the good of the American people, their temporary end to political contributions should be made permanent.
Novavax’s executives are just the latest Big Pharma players to follow the same pandemic profiteering playbook: drive market speculation with PR announcements, watch stock prices skyrocket, then pocket hundreds of millions of dollars when they think no one’s looking.
Americans deserve a clean break from the Trump administration’s botched COVID response that has cost us 350,000 lives to date and bungled everything from testing to the vaccine rollout. Rather than inviting Moncef Slaoui, who has long been a controversial leader at Operation Warp Speed because of ethics conflicts, the Biden administration should stop the revolving door of Big Pharma cronies who undermine public confidence in government agencies and put Pharma profits ahead of public health.
