Cassidy, Barrasso nominate Trump for Nobel Prize for vaccine program

FIRST ON FOX: A pair of Senate Republicans plan to nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in accelerating the production and distribution of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., plan to introduce a resolution in 2020 that would formally nominate Trump for the prize of launching Operation Warp Speed ​​at the beginning of the pandemic.

The executive action saw large-scale collaboration between multiple federal agencies and private companies to accelerate the research, development and distribution of vaccines during the pandemic and was funded by billions of dollars from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

The move by lawmakers came shortly after Trump announced his desire to win the Peace Prize for his role in reaching an agreement between Israel and Hamas, and the award committee passed it on. This is also the latest in a series of nomination moves from congressional Republicans.

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Cassidy and Barrasso, who was a doctor before becoming a legislator, praised the massive mobilization efforts and credited Operation Warp Speed ​​with saving millions of lives during the pandemic.

“When Americans needed a vaccine in record time to stop a once-in-a-generation pandemic, President Trump delivered,” Cassidy said. “The Nobel Prize was awarded for much less. He should get the next one!”

Barrasso maintained that Operation Warp Speed ​​”would not have been possible without the courageous leadership of President Trump.”

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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, attends a hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on February 8, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“He made infamously slow progress through bureaucracy in his desire to get the vaccine to market in less than a year. Operation Warp Speed ​​saved millions of lives in the United States and millions more around the world. President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his life-saving achievement,” he said.

Other congressional Republicans sought to nominate Trump for the award for his various accomplishments this year, including his role in reaching an agreement to see an end to the Israel-Hamas War.

And Dr. Trump appointed as director of the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. Mehmet Öz argued that the president should win the Operation Warp Speed ​​award, which he described as “a great success for our country”.

But efforts to nominate Trump for his role in vaccine development came after both lawmakers rejected Human Health and Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Senate hearing last month following turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and questions about Trump’s stance on vaccines. It came after an argument with .

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Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., asserted that Operation Warp Speed ​​“would not have been possible without the bold leadership of President Trump.” (Nathan Posner/Anatolia via Getty Images)

Cassidy pressed Kennedy during an appearance before the Senate Finance Committee in September; where the HHS Secretary acknowledged that Trump should have won the award for Operation Warp Speed.

“Absolutely, senator,” Kennedy said.

But at the time, Cassidy had questioned Kennedy’s actions against vaccines before his tenure as HHS Secretary and while leading the agency; this action appeared to counter his support for Operation Warp Speed.

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Kennedy said he started filing a lawsuit against former President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, not against Trump’s Operation Warp Speed ​​crackdown.

“First of all, the reason Operation Warp Speed ​​was genius is that it did something that no one had ever done before. [had] “I don’t think any president could have done this other than President Trump, who at the time introduced the vaccine that matched the virus perfectly,” Kennedy said.