Alex Azar, Donald Trump's health secretary, has told politicians he cannot guarantee that a coronavirus vaccine will be affordable to everyone once it has been developed.
Giving evidence to Congress on the administration's efforts to contain the deadly virus, Mr Azar said: "We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price, because we need the private sector to invest. Price controls won't get us there."
He also appeared to contradict the president by saying he did not believe the virus would simply die out when the weather gets warmer, a contention Mr Trump made last week.
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He was speaking shortly before the president was due to hold a news conference on how he is planning to protect Americans from the deadly virus.
Mr Trump has been criticised by both Democrats and Republicans for not doing enough to combat the threat of the coronavirus.
Shape Created with Sketch. Coronavirus: Streets around world left empty Show all 10 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Coronavirus: Streets around world left empty 1/10 A man wearing a face mask crosses a road in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Reuters 2/10 A view of the empty entrance to the Università Cattolica (Catholic University) in Milan, northern Italy, on 24 February, 2020. EPA 3/10 Empty streets in Daegu, South Korea, on 23 February, 2020. EPA 4/10 Empty streets in Daegu, South Korea, on 23 February 2020. EPA 5/10 A lone sanitation worker sits near the closed Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on February 24, 2020. Reuters 6/10 A view of a deserted street in Codogno, northern Italy, on February 23, 2020. EPA 7/10 Italian police officers set a road block in Codogno, Northern Italy, on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. AP 8/10 A supermarket closed in Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown, on February 23, 2020. EPA 9/10 A lone cyclist wearing sanitary masks pedals in the center of Codogno, Northern Italy. LaPresse via AP 10/10 An empty road at the entrance of the small Italian town of Codogno on February 23, 2020. AFP via Getty 1/10 A man wearing a face mask crosses a road in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Reuters 2/10 A view of the empty entrance to the Università Cattolica (Catholic University) in Milan, northern Italy, on 24 February, 2020. EPA 3/10 Empty streets in Daegu, South Korea, on 23 February, 2020. EPA 4/10 Empty streets in Daegu, South Korea, on 23 February 2020. EPA 5/10 A lone sanitation worker sits near the closed Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on February 24, 2020. Reuters 6/10 A view of a deserted street in Codogno, northern Italy, on February 23, 2020. EPA 7/10 Italian police officers set a road block in Codogno, Northern Italy, on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. AP 8/10 A supermarket closed in Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown, on February 23, 2020. EPA 9/10 A lone cyclist wearing sanitary masks pedals in the center of Codogno, Northern Italy. LaPresse via AP 10/10 An empty road at the entrance of the small Italian town of Codogno on February 23, 2020. AFP via Getty
He has requested $2.5bn, which would go towards developing a vaccine and stockpiling protective gear like face masks. However, the Democrats say it will cost at least $8.5bn to make sure the virus does not spread.
The president has also faced criticism for proposing to take $535m out of a budget to fight ebola.
Earlier, the Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "This is shameful. He puts forth a proposal now that is meagre, anaemic in terms of addressing this. Ebola, we did $5bn. And now they're trying to take the ebola money and spend it here.
"What he's doing is late, too late, anaemic. Hopefully we came make up for the loss of time but we have to have professionals in place, resources that are adequate and not use scare tactics about people coming back to our country."
It is thought Mr Trump may be planning to appoint a coronavirus czar to coordinate his government's response, as Barack Obama did with the ebola crisis in 2014.
heloisedargenteuil on February 27th, 2020 at 10:54 UTC »
You guys have to pay for vaccines? I honestly never realised. Like, I know you have to pay for every medical treatment you get, but it still never occured to me that vaccines would be expensive. That suuuuucks.
Karlukoyre on February 27th, 2020 at 05:15 UTC »
"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest," Azar told members of Congress during a hearing concerning the coronavirus outbreak and the administration's budget request. "Price controls won't get us there."
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-says-coronavirus-vaccine-may-not-be-affordable-2020-2
mvario on February 27th, 2020 at 05:09 UTC »
In a capitalist society every disaster is really a business opportunity.