Senate announces creation of ‘shark tank’ to fast track creation of COVID-19 tests
Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., speaks during a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on new coronavirus tests on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
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UPDATED 1:03 PM PT — Thursday, May 7, 2020
Senators are pushing to increase the U.S.’s virus testing capacity. On Thursday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced the creation of a “competitive shark tank” to fast track rapid development of testing kits.
I’m about to chair the Senate HELP Committee’s hearing to talk to @NIHDirector and Dr. Gary Disbrow at the @BARDA about the “shark tank” effort to create new technologies designed to produce tens of millions of COVID-19 tests.
Watch live here: https://t.co/upi3ySMSzy pic.twitter.com/3XsfTuk7yF
— Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) May 7, 2020
The committee was created using $1.5 billion from the most recent virus stimulus bill. It will be housed at the National Institutes of Health.
…to pull out all the stops and fast track new technologies designed to produce tens of millions of tests by August. We allocated another $1 billion to the @BARDA, to work with NIH to accelerate production of these tests.
— Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) May 7, 2020
A City of Miami Fire Rescue worker is tested for COVID-19 at Hard Rock Stadium, during the new coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday, May 6, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, Pool)
According to the senator, Americans need to be assured it’s safe to return to work and school. He has said the nation will need “tens of millions of tests” to do that.
“This shark tank at the National Institutes of Health would utilize the capacities of government itself, in coordination with the private sector, to pull out all the stops and fast track new technologies,” stated Sen. Alexander. “(It’s) designed to produce tens of millions of tests by August…and even millions more than that by the flu season.”
If the project is successful, it could pave the way for the country to completely reopen by late summer.
There is no safe path forward to combat the novel coronavirus without adequate testing. Let us hope that out of Dr. Collins’ shark tank will emerge at least one mighty great white shark that will help us combat this disease.
— Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) May 7, 2020
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