COVID–19 Vaccine Developers Gold Medal Act

The public-private partnership, Operation Warp Speed, sought to develop, manufacture, and ship 300,000,000 doses of COVID–19 vaccines around the United States.

This effort would not have been possible without researchers, scientists, doctors, epidemiologists, and others around the world who have worked tirelessly and collaboratively to develop lifesaving vaccines to combat the coronavirus by reducing the likelihood of transmission, building immune resiliency, avoiding hospitalizations, and reducing the likelihood of death.

Through the academic, research, and analytic expertise of universities and their faculty, researchers, and students, their efforts contributed to providing valuable information to the public on the severity of the coronavirus worldwide and, in some cases, contributed to vaccine development.

Several of the resulting vaccines represent historic breakthroughs in biopharmaceutical technology, which are predicated on years of leading research conducted in laboratories and hospitals that benefit from the significant financial investment of United States taxpayers through the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

As a response to COVID–19, Congress provided $47,600,000,000 for the effort to support the private sector’s research and development into effective technologies, the scale-up of manufacturing capacity for promising vaccine candidates, and the distribution of vaccines that received emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.

These professionals worked under record timelines to develop safe, effective vaccines demonstrated in trials and granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. It shattered the typical timeline for vaccine development and production from over a decade to less than 12 months.

The first vaccine trial volunteers who lined up to have shots administered in their arms paved the way for emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration and the hundreds of millions of people of the United States that have since been vaccinated.

These remarkable achievements in medical science will have positive implications for future vaccine development, helping to combat new viruses, leading to improvements in health and well-being.

The tremendous efforts in vaccine development can be celebrated and attributed to building diverse teams, including the notable efforts of many individuals across the planet.

Vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States benefitted greatly from global cooperation, strategic partnerships, and collaboration with publicly funded agencies and research capabilities of the academic community.

As a result of the collaborative efforts, people around the world are benefitting from the administration of vaccines, although work remains to support governments around the world in ensuring vaccines are equitably distributed.

The United States, including through cooperation with bilateral and multilateral partnerships, can help scale up manufacturing and distribution to all corners of the globe.

Operation Warp Speed successfully laid the groundwork for reopening the United States economy, contributing to the safety of the people of the United States, the reunion of families, and is the greatest medical achievement in modern times.

Presentation authorized— The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design in recognition of all those whose efforts led to the successful development of vaccines that received emergency use authorizations to respond to the coronavirus.

Design and striking— For the purpose of the award under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the “Secretary”) shall strike a gold medal described in that subsection with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

In general— The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 at a price sufficient to cover the cost of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.

Proceeds of sale— Amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

Authority To use fund amounts— There is authorized to be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under this Act.

National medals— The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

Numismatic items— For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.