Washington, D.C. – Congressmen Darin LaHood (IL-18) and Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) led a bipartisan letter to President Joe Biden urging the United States to bolster supply chains to support U.S. preparedness, strengthen our economy, and improve international vaccine delivery efficiency as we move forward from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the letter, the members push the White House to prioritize strategies that support a robust U.S. economy and global supply chain, including maintaining testing and therapeutics, PPE, ventilators, cold chain capacity, and training of healthcare workers. They also encourage the Administration to support policies that advance further U.S. innovation, utilize our existing COVID 19 resources efficiently, and work with Congress to meet these critical goals.

"We believe support in these areas will save lives globally, protect the United States from any future variants, and help the world to move forward from the COVID 19 pandemic," the lawmakers write. "An investment to maintain vaccination efforts in lower income countries now will eliminate the need to spend trillions later in res ponding to successive waves of COVID variants. We are ready to engage with your administration further to support U.S. leadership in ending the COVID-19 pandemic."

The full letter can be read here.

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