VIDEO: ICYMI: Auchincloss: Vaccines An Opportunity for the United States to Reclaim Moral Leadership
VIDEO: ICYMI: Auchincloss: Vaccines An Opportunity for the United States to Reclaim Moral Leadership
Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D, MA-04), joined MSNBC to discuss his call for a Marshall Plan for Vaccines. Auchincloss made the case for the United States using vaccine diplomacy as a means of creating jobs at home, reclaiming our moral standing in the world, and jumpstarting a 21st Century foreign policy agenda.
WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxVcV5IYck
KEY EXCERPTS:
On the Need for A Marshall Plan for Vaccines:
“We need global-scale vaccine production and distribution and needs to be headquartered here in the United States. We're on track as a country to reach herd immunity by this summer, but huge loss of the rest of the world are not on track to reach until 2023. And that is the tinder for more variants to emerge that could become the next pandemic. We need to be taking the lead as a country on a Marshall Plan for vaccines. That's going to do three things for us.
One, it's going to prevent those variants from emerging. We're already dealing with the Brazil variant right now, for example. We don't want to see others coming.
Two, it's going to create good jobs here in the United States in high growth industries like biomanufacturing.
And three, it's going to prevent China from using vaccine diplomacy to extract concessions in our own backyard and diplomacy to extract concessions in our own backyard and in developing countries throughout the world.
This is an opportunity for the United States to reclaim moral leadership throughout the world after four years of depredations under Donald Trump.”
On US Leadership:
“The United States needs to vaccinate its own population first. That's an obligation we have to our own citizens. We are on track to do that. The President has said by May we'll have enough vaccines for all adults. By the summertime, we will be hitting herd immunity. According to the best forecast we've seen. At that point the question becomes, what do we do with excess surplus? If we see that Europe is the highest ROI for vaccine delivered, then let's start with Europe. But ultimately, there are 7,000,000,000 people in this world. And this is a global problem that's going to require a global solution. There is no other country except for the United States that can lead here.”
On 21st Century Foreign Policy:
“21st-century foreign policy is going to be built on countries that can tackle transnational challenges together. Climate change and public health are the top two. Rejoining the Paris agreement and our investments in clean energy research are an important way that the United States is stepping up for climate change. To do so in public health requires us to take the lead on this Marshall Plan. Do we want China extracting concessions for Huawei in Brazil? Or do we want the United States to be building partner public health capabilities in Brazil in exchange for vaccines there? Instead of having an extractive relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and countries on our border, we can have a relationship of partnership and productive exchange.”
###