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COVID Vaccines, School Reopenings, And Sticking To The Script

 
• By Nielsen Hobbs

US House hearing on coronavirus vaccines produces little drama, but a question on school reopenings underscores the difficult position that industry finds itself in during the pandemic – and how its more routine business model has deep challenges as well.

House Energy and Commerce/Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on COVID vaccines, 21 July 2020
The vaccine bunch – participants in the House Energy and Commerce/Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on COVID vaccines, 21 July 2020. Clockwise from the top left: Moderna’s Stephen Hoge, Pfizer’s John Young, Johnson & Johnson’s Macaya Douoguih, AstraZeneca’s Mene Pangalos, Merck’s Julie Gerberding, Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Rep. David McKinley (R-WV), a masked Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), and in the center square, subcommittee chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) is pictured swearing in the witnesses. • Source: photo illustration from screenshots of hearing feed

The US House hearing examining vaccines to prevent COVID-19 on 21 July stuck almost entirely to the script: Democrats criticized the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic, Republicans offered contrary statistics, and witnesses from industry said their decisions would be guided by science.

Those hoping for fireworks were likely disappointed. Colorado Representative Diana DeGette, chair of the House Energy and Commerce/Oversight and Investigations...

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