WORKING PAPER - 22-9 COVID-19 vaccine supply chains and the Defense Production Act

Under that initiative, the US Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services worked together to Despite this create policy incentives, often by relying on the Defense Production Act (DPA) head start, of 1950, to encourage and then help private companies and their global supply growth of chains expedite the process of developing and manufacturing vaccines. [...] The following sections rely on information from the COVID-19 vaccine supply chains that emerged, as collected by Bown and Bollyky (2022), to examine the legal environment and US policies designed to tackle the need for a diversified portfolio of vaccine candidates, speed in delivery, and scale in production. [...] In April, the federal government announced the creation of Operation president Warp Speed, a partnership between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the authority Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.9 The Trump administration to require also issued a number of executive orders invoking the Defense Produc. [...] The more customized the input, the larger the entry barriers by new firms, further limiting Under the the supply response. [...] The loudest complaints were from the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, Cross-border who accused the Biden administration in April 2021 of imposing an “export vaccine embargo.” The CEOs of Biological E., CureVac, and Novavax also highlighted the supply chains problem.