H.R. 8447 — Protecting America from Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Act of 2026

This section sets forth congressional findings on the annual and historical impacts of seasonal and pandemic influenza in the United States, including estimated deaths, hospitalizations, and economic costs of up to $361 billion per year for seasonal influenza and $3.79 trillion for a pandemic, as well as the importance of increasing vaccination rates, fully implementing the National Influenza Vaccine Modernization Strategy for 2020–2030, strengthening domestic biotechnology supply chains, and addressing vaccine hesitancy.

This section establishes national goals for the United States to deliver first doses of finished influenza vaccine within 12 weeks of emergence of a pandemic-potential strain (within 3 years after enactment) and to develop a universal influenza vaccine (within 10 years after enactment), and requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to publish plans to achieve those goals, including 5 years of interim support for incremental vaccine efficacy improvements and the research workforce. This section directs the Secretary to establish public-private partnerships to strengthen the domestic vaccine supply chain (including ingredient production, fill-finish capacity, and ancillary supplies such as needles and syringes) and to evaluate their capabilities through logistical and technology assessments. This section requires the Secretary to fully implement the portions of the National Influenza Vaccine Modernization Strategy 2020–2030 within the Department of Health and Human Services’ authority and to submit annual implementation reports to Congress by June 15 each year through 2030. This section amends section 2811 of the Public Health Service Act to expand the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response’s duties to include the pandemic influenza medical countermeasures program and to evaluate progress implementing the National Influenza Vaccine Modernization Strategy. This section amends section 319L(c) of the Public Health Service Act to add pandemic influenza countermeasure preparedness as a BARDA activity and to establish a pandemic influenza medical countermeasures program that supports research and development of rapid-response technologies, universal and broad-spectrum vaccines, alternative delivery methods, novel antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, rapid diagnostics, virus seeds, clinical lots, stockpiles, manufacturing infrastructure, and regular preparedness drills.

This section authorizes research, development, and planning activities to improve detection, prevention, and response to influenza. (1) The Director of the National Institutes of Health may conduct or support basic research on pathogen-agnostic tools to detect influenza and other pathogens and technologies that automate sample preparation. (2) The Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority may conduct or support advanced development of novel sequencing modalities for such tools, rapid point-of-care and self-administrable diagnostic tests readable at home or the point of care, preexposure prophylactic influenza antibody products, and improved broadly protective therapeutics meeting the needs of high-risk and high-exposure patients. (3) The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, in collaboration with the Secretaries of Commerce and Transportation and other specified officials, shall incorporate diagnostics supply chain resiliency into influenza pandemic planning that supports testing-to-treat and bolsters testing and vaccine delivery supply chains, and publish within 1 year of enactment a plan for rapidly expanding public and private diagnostic testing capacity (including at clinical and public health laboratories and through self-testing) during an influenza pandemic, addressing transportation infrastructure, sterilization needs, and sourcing of critical materials. (4) The Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall work with vaccine manufacturers to modernize potency assays across manufacturing technologies to reduce by 6 weeks the period required to first evaluate new vaccine candidates during a pandemic.

This section directs the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to submit an annual report to Congress on the agency’s public communication strategy to increase confidence in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. It expresses the sense of Congress that the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Food and Drug Administration should support research on vaccine safety and effectiveness using large, multi-source health data sets across multiple influenza seasons. This section requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create partnerships with organizations experienced in serving vulnerable populations—including individuals with chronic conditions, older Americans, parents of young children, pregnant women, Tribal communities, racial and ethnic minorities, and rural communities—to disseminate education on influenza vaccine safety and efficacy, confer on messaging before and after each season, and report to Congress on the partnerships and activities within one year of enactment. It also requires the Secretary to implement, within six months of enactment, a targeted communications public-private partnership demonstration project run by an independent nonprofit entity that focuses on individuals with chronic illnesses or comorbidities, supports behavioral research on vaccine hesitancy, and deploys multimodal outreach via internet, television, and community channels, with a public evaluation report due six months after completion. This section requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to incorporate health outreach strategies addressing barriers to vaccines, therapeutics, and at-home testing into seasonal and pandemic influenza planning, with specific focus on rural, lower-socioeconomic, racial and ethnic minority, senior, and disabled communities. It further requires the Secretary to initiate, within one year of enactment, a one-season influenza test-to-treat demonstration project in facilities serving vulnerable populations such as long-term care settings, Indian Health Service clinics, federally qualified health centers, and Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, with a public evaluation report due six months after completion.

This section authorizes appropriations for fiscal year 2027 and each subsequent fiscal year for influenza planning, response, and related public health programs and activities. It provides $231,358,000 for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Influenza Planning and Response Program; $1,000,000,000 for the Strategic National Stockpile; $10,000,000 for the Center for Industrial Base Management and Supply Chain within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; $307,000,000 for the Hospital Preparedness Program; $270,000,000 for National Institutes of Health research on a universal flu vaccine; $681,933,000 for the CDC’s section 317 immunization program; $735,000,000 for the CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program; $185,000,000 for the CDC’s Public Health Data Modernization Initiative; and $43,000,000 for the CDC’s Advanced Molecular Detection Program. The section also amends section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to create a new “health defense operations” adjustment that allows Congress to designate discretionary appropriations on an account-by-account basis for such purposes, with accompanying reports required to specify each funded program, project, or activity and its exact dollar amount. It further directs the Directors of the CDC and NIH and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to prepare and submit directly to the President, beginning in fiscal year 2028, an annual professional bypass budget estimate for amounts to be designated for health defense operations.