Press Release

Today, the House of Representatives passed Representative Ami Bera's (D-CA) Securing America From Epidemics (SAFE) Act. The SAFE Act would authorize United States participation in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a public-private partnership developing vaccines for COVID-19 and other highly infectious pathogens that could become the next global pandemic. The bipartisan legislation was introduced with Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the power of infectious diseases. In just months, the virus spread across the globe, causing widespread human suffering and economic turmoil," said Rep. Bera, M.D. "That's why it is a national security and public health imperative that the United States lead on global health security to both defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, and to prepare for future deadly diseases. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has been a critical partner in our international fight against COVID-19, providing early funding for the Moderna vaccine and is leading COVAX, the global effort to manufacture and equitably distribute a COVID-19 vaccine to communities across the globe. I'm proud the House of Representatives passed my SAFE Act to authorize U.S. participation in CEPI and to support these international efforts to defeat this pandemic and prepare for future ones."

The SAFE Act passed out of the House of Representatives in the 116^th Congress as standalone legislation and was also included in both versions of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act the House of Representatives passed in 2020. Click here to view the full legislation.

Rep. Bera has been a leader in Congress on global health security and the COVID-19 pandemic. He chaired the first congressional hearing on the novel coronavirus on Feb. 5, 2020, sounded the alarm after the Trump Administration disbanded the global health security office in the National Security Council in 2018, and is a member on the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security.