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Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the Vaccines for the New Millennium Act of 2000. I have the honor of being joined by the distinguished chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, Senator FRIST, and my friend, the Senator from Washington, Mrs. MURRAY. This bill addresses a catastrophic problem that needs our immediate attention.
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The proportions of the AIDS calamity in Africa are stupefying. More than 33 million people are infected with HIV--95 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. This disease will kill more than 2.5 million this year. It has already orphaned 11 million children, and it will orphan 40 million by 2010. These numbers are incomprehensible. To put in perspective, nearly 60 people will become infected with HIV in the time it takes me to testify today.
In addition, tuberculosis will kill close to 2 million this year, and a person dies from malaria every thirty seconds. No nation--but particularly ours--as rich as we are in talent, technology and money--can fail to help turn this around.
We should remember: borders do not matter when you are dealing with contagion.
These epidemics are out of control. And if we are to reverse this death spiral, we need to institute bold new measures. We must provide new global health infrastructures which look at long-term solutions for disease eradication. And, until they are established, we must provide much-needed short-term financing for disease prevention and treatment.
Mr. President, a number of my colleagues have shown great leadership in trying to find a solution to the health emergencies in the developing countries.
I applaud the work of my friend, Senator DURBIN with whom I have joined on a number of bills this year. I also recognize and support the efforts of Senator BOXER and Senator SMITH for their work on the Global AIDS Plan. Senator MOYNIHAN and Senator FEINGOLD also have an important plan to prevent vertical transmission of HIV from mother to child. I have supported all these plans.
Mr. President, I think we need to acknowledge the scope of this epidemic requires a bold response which looks beyond just preventing and treating this disease. The epidemiology of this disease dictates lifetime adherence to preventive measures. I am fully supportive of prevention programs--I have seen their very positive effect in the AIDS Action Committee in Boston and in AIDS Project Worcester. The Outer Cape also has a tremendous program which I support every year in Provincetown and these are echoed in small towns across Massachusetts which have accessed CDC grants and instituted the absolute best of community-based programs. I have also been an early and consistent supporter of the Ryan White program which comes up for reauthorization this year.
But, Mr. President, we need a vaccine --for the United States and for the developing world.
Vaccines are the most cost-effective weapon in the arsenal of modern medicine to stop the spread of contagious disease, and they offer a relatively inexpensive means of lowering a society's overall cost of medical care. Prime examples of the success are the three million children whose lives are saved each year as a result of early childhood immunizations against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, tetanus, measles, and tuberculosis.
Mr. President, consider the alternatives we have now. Pharmaceutical products, like the highly touted antiviral ``cocktail'' for treating AIDS patients can cost, on average, as much as $15,000 a year. That is a princely sum for even wealthy countries but clearly, for nations with per capita incomes of $700 or $800 like Malawi, such treatments and drugs are nowhere in the real of affordability. They also require enormous infrastructure investments and medical compliance which is difficult to adhere to in this country let alone developing societies.
For these nations, finding an affordable vaccine for AIDS is really the only option that offers them an opportunity for gaining control over the AIDS epidemic.
Unfortunately, of the $2.4 billion or so spent on overall AIDS research last year, only a fraction was spent on AIDS vaccine research.
The World Bank estimates that perhaps between $280 million and $350 million was spend worldwide on finding a vaccine for AIDS in 1999, or somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of the total amount spent on AIDS research.
Furthermore, of the $300 million or so spent on HIV vaccine research, less than $50 million came from private sector research and development budgets. Simply put, our biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries do not believe that investing in AIDS vaccine research is a good investment.
So, Mr. President, we have a responsibility, an obligation, to change this perception. Investing in an AIDS vaccine is one of the best investments we as a nation can make. And for Africa, it is the only hope for survival.
And while continued and expanded investments in our research engines are vitally important--I am referring to AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health--the time has come for us to explore additional strategies for stimulating private sector AIDS vaccine research and development.
We must look for innovative financing mechanisms. We must instill the financial incentives for our pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors to engage in areas that have previously ignored.
Mr. President, I was amazed to learn that of the $56 billion a year spent globally on health research, well over 90 percent is spent on research into health problems that concern only 10 percent of the world's population.
Amazingly, of the 1,200 new drugs commercialized between 1975 and 1997, only 13 were for tropical diseases--diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis which combined kill close to 3 million people a year.
Why is it that pharmaceutical companies don't invest in these diseases? Because there is no hope for finding a vaccine for malaria? No hope for finding an affordable vaccine for tuberculosis or HIV? Is the science just insurmountable?
Absolutely not.
Companies don't invest in these diseases because they don't foresee a profit. A malaria vaccine , while offering the potential to save millions of lives, does not offer the same return to shareholders as the return from Viagra, Lipitor, Prozac, or other blockbusters here in the United States. I don't blame the pharmaceutical industry for concern about their shareholders, but I believe it is morally imperative to jumpstart research into vaccines as quickly as possible.
What then, is the answer? Should we turn our back on these diseases as a casualty of the way free markets function? Should we dump billions into new government bureaucracies to tackle these problems? The answer on both counts is no. We as a nation, and as a responsible member of the international community, should create the market incentives to encourage our pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the best and brightest companies in the world, to invest in those diseases which are a scourge to the world.
What we need to do is give pharmaceutical companies the financial incentives to achieve what we know is possible and let them work their magic--these are the same engines of growth and technological progress which have helped extend life expectancy beyond what was imaginable at the turn of the century. Now, let's help them turn their attention to those diseases which kill millions upon millions in developing countries.
I think this type of public-private partnership is the most efficient means of addressing the world's growing health care pandemics. How would it world specifically?
The legislation I introduce today, the ``Vaccines for the New Millennium Act,'' provides a number of market incentives to encourage private sector investment in lifesaving vaccines. These incentives can be classified in one of two ways. Some of them provide a ``push'' mechanism--lowering the cost of R&D at the front end. Others provide a ``pull'' mechanism, demonstrating that a market will exist if the pharmaceutical companies provide the product.
On the push side, first, the bill expands on the research and development tax credit by increasing the credit rate from 20 percent to 50 percent for research related to developing vaccines for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, or any infectious disease which kills over 1 million people a year. The tax credit is incremental such that the credit applies to research spending which exceeds a base amount. In effect, the credit rewards incremental increases in lifesaving vaccine research--thus giving our drug companies an incentive for more focus on lifesaving vaccines.
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Second, the bill allows small biotechnology companies which do not have tax liability to pass a smaller tax credit through to investors. Firms with assets under $50 million may choose to pass through a 25 percent tax credit to investors who provide financing for research and development on one of the priority vaccines. The credit would apply to stock issued after the date of enactment and used within 18 months to pay for qualified vaccine research expenses.
Both of these proposals have been endorsed by a combination of public health advocacy groups and industry--including AIDS Action Council, the Global Health Council, the American Public Health Association and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.
Third, the bill authorizes voluntary contributions to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations is an international partnership recently established to expand and improve access to existing safe and cost-effective vaccines. It is being supported by a number of nations and international donors, including an incredibly generous founding gift by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A similar provision was included in the President's budget. By working to improve the delivery of existing vaccines, the Global Alliance not only offers the opportunity to save lives, it will improve health delivery systems for the distribution of future vaccines.
Fourth, the bill authorizes voluntary contributions to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. In effect, the initiative provides financing to industry in return for international access to the vaccine . For example, under a typical IAVI/industry agreement, IAVI will provide financing in exchange for an agreement with the manufacturer to sell the vaccine to developing countries at very reasonable prices. Once again, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation provides a large portion of IAVI's funding.
To further accelerate the invention and production of lifesaving vaccines, the bill includes a tax credit proposed in the President's budget. Under the proposal, every dollar paid by a qualifying organization to buy a lifesaving vaccine would be matched by a dollar of tax credits--thereby doubling the purchasing power of nonprofit organizations and others that purchase vaccines for developing countries. The credit only applies to vaccines not yet developed, thus demonstrating the existence of a market if drug companies fill the void. The credit would apply to vaccines for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, or any other disease which kills over 1 million people annually.
The bill also establishes a Lifesaving Vaccine Purchase Fund. This approach has been advocated most prominently by Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs, a witness on the third panel.
Under my proposal, Congress would authorize and advance appropriate $100 million a year, over ten years, to a fund for the purchase and distribution of newly-developed vaccines for AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The first appropriation would not occur until a vaccine has been licensed and approved. In effect, by establishing a guaranteed market, the proposal would provide a real incentive for additional private sector research. However, the money would not be spent until the vaccine was developed, thus postponing any cost to the government.
Finally, the bill directs the Administration to initiate negotiations with officials of foreign governments for the establishment of an international vaccine purchase fund that would purchase and distribute in developing countries vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, or any infectious disease which kills over 1 million people. It is assumed that if such an agreement is reached, the domestic fund described above would be integrated into the multilateral agreement.
This is a comprehensive plan, Mr. President, which I have worked on for two years. This past weekend, it was endorsed as a positive step by academics, pharmaceutical executives and governmental leaders at a high-level conference convened by the University of California at San Francisco, World Bank and the Global Forum for Health Research.
Congresswoman NANCY PELOSI will introduce identical companion legislation in the House and it is my hope that our colleagues will give it equally serious attention.
By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. DEWINE, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, and Mr. WELLSTONE):
S. 2137. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to educational organizations to carry out educational programs about the Holocaust; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
HOLOCAUST EDUCATION ASSISTANCE ACT
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today Senator DEWINE and I are introducing a bill to provide funds to educational organizations to teach the history of the Holocaust. It is entitled the Holocaust Education Assistance Act. Cosponsoring the bill are Senators SMITH of Oregon, MOYNIHAN, LAUTENBERG, SCHUMER, BOXER, WELLSTONE, and DURBIN.
This bill authorizes $2 million each year for fiscal years 2001-2005 for a competitive grant program under which schools, museums and other non-profit organizations could compete for grants to train teachers, conduct seminars and develop educational materials on the Holocaust. It is the companion bill to H.R. 3105, introduced by Representatives MALONEY, HORN, WAXMAN, and others.
The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events in human history. In the 1930s and 1940s, the German Nazi regime systematically slaughtered more than 6,000,000 Jews and other minorities under the guise of achieving a ``racially pure'' society. Hopefully, this bill can help ensure that the next generation of Americans
learns some of the crucial lessons of the Holocaust. The most fundamental of these lessons is that racial and ethnic-based hatred endangers each of us, and that the violation of one person's rights threatens the freedom of all of us.
Five states mandate that the Holocaust be taught in schools. They are California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. Eleven others recommend or encourage teaching the Holocaust in school. They are Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. The bill is needed because most teachers have little training and few resources to teach the history of the Holocaust. This bill does not mandate anything, but it does create a funding source for schools and communities that choose to teach youngsters about this horrible chapter of human history.
In my state, the following groups support the bill:
Holocaust Center of Northern California.
Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission.
Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance.
The Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California.
The following national organizations support the Holocaust Education Assistance Act:
Agudath Israel of America.
American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.
American Jewish Committee.
American Society for Yad Vashem, Inc.
Anti-Defamation League.
Association of Holocaust Organizations.
Braun Holocaust Institute.
Facing History and Ourselves.
Hatikvah Holocaust Education Resource Center.
Institute for Public Affairs of the Orthodox Union.
Museum of Jewish Heritage.
National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education.
Rabbinical Council of America.
Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism.
Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance.
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
World Jewish Congress.
The following regional organizations support the Holocaust Education Assistance Act:
Florida Holocaust Museum.
Hawaii Holocaust Center.
Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois.
Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida.
Holocaust Resource Center & Archives, Queensboro Community College.
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia.
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.
New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum and Study Center.
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Tennessee Holocaust Commission.
Tennessee Jewish Federation.
West Virginia Holocaust Education Commission.
As we enter the new century, we must remain vigilant to ensure that we do not forget the lessons of the last century. The admonition that ``those who forget history are doomed to repeat it'' is as true today as ever. After the Holocaust, survivors and others vowed not to let another such tragedy go unchallenged. Rallying behind the cry: ``Never again!'', Holocaust survivors made a promise to the memories of their mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and children. This bill provides a way for us to join with Holocaust survivors in keeping that promise. It ensures that future generations of Americans will remember that bigotry against any group poses a menace to society at large, and that the violation of an individual's rights places every person's freedom in peril.
I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.
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