America has a contingency plan in case China, as threatened, withholds life-saving medications to the United States during the coronavirus emergency, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN-01) said Friday.
Roe, who is also a physician, said this during a conference call with reporters.
As The Tennessee Star reported, China is a large manufacturer of pharmaceutical drugs. The United States relies heavily on China for medicine.
“I’m not going to say there is a shortage here or there. I can’t say how much or where or what, but we have a sizable stockpile of medication in this country,” Roe told The Star. “A lot of the medicines have already been in the pipeline. They are already stored somewhere. I’m not going to say there won’t be a shortage. There probably will be.”
He did not elaborate further.
Roe said it’s time for the United States “to rethink our supply chain and our medicines in this country, no doubt, after this (emergency) is over.”
“President Trump was spot on-right when he talked about manufacturing and all those things he’s done to help bring those things back to this country. I think the Chinese are doing us a favor,” Roe said.
“We will bring it back to this country. We have a lot of talented people in this country who can produce these things if the incentives are right, and I think we have to make sure that happens.”
As FOX News reported Friday, members of China’s Communist Party said they could impose “pharmaceutical export controls, which would plunge America into ‘the mighty sea of coronavirus.’”
“The disturbing threats made during a global pandemic as well as the scary consequences if that threat becomes real highlight just how tight China’s grip is on the global supply chain,” the network reported.
“Already, the Food and Drug Administration has announced the first drug shortage related to the coronavirus. Though it did not disclose which drug was in short supply, the FDA did say it could not access enough raw components needed because they are made in China.”
As The Star reported this week, U.S. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee proposed the Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet Act. Blackburn said her bill, if enacted into law, will encourage innovation to bring drug manufacturing back to the United States.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
[…] The Tennessee Star reported this month, Chinese officials have threatened to withhold life-saving medications to the United States […]