US lawmakers, top official clash on China’s involvement in coronavirus vaccine development
- Lawmakers asked whether the US is committed to working with China on coronavirus vaccine research during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday
- General Gustave Perna indicated an unwillingness to work with China
US lawmakers and a top official leading the White House’s efforts to produce a coronavirus vaccine clashed on Thursday over whether American health authorities should be working with China to speed up the process.
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to confirm General Gustave Perna to co-lead “Operation Warp Speed”, the Trump administration’s initiative to develop a coronavirus vaccine and therapeutics, several lawmakers asked whether the United States is committed to working with China on research.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat representing Connecticut, raised the concerns “that the administration has … rejected and spurned combined world efforts to develop an effective vaccine” and asked if Perna would commit to “work with any nation that offers cooperation or information relevant to developing vaccines or therapeutic”.
“I commit to working with all nations that we deem are friendly to our national security,” Perna responded.
“Does that include China?” Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii followed up.
“Right now, for me, it does not,” said Perna.