Sec. 113. Statement of policy on humanitarian assistance to countries affected by pandemics
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It shall be the policy of the United States— to ensure that United States assistance to address pandemics, including the provision of vaccines, reaches vulnerable and marginalized populations, including racial and religious minorities, refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants, stateless persons, women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities; to ensure that United States assistance, including development finance, addresses the second order effects of a pandemic, including acute food insecurity; and to protect and support humanitarian actors who are essential workers in preventing, mitigating and responding to the spread of a pandemic among vulnerable and marginalized groups described in paragraph (1), including ensuring that such humanitarian actors— are exempted from unreasonable travel restrictions to ensure that they can effectively provide life-saving assistance; and are prioritized as frontline workers in country vaccine distribution plans.
The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, should carry out actions that accomplish the policies set forth in subsection (a), including by— taking steps to ensure that travel restrictions implemented to help contain the spread of a pandemic are not applied to individuals authorized by the United States Government to travel to, or reside in, a designated country to provide assistance related to, or otherwise impacted by, an outbreak; approving the usage of foreign assistance funding for the procurement of personal protective equipment by United States Government implementing partners from businesses within or nearby the country receiving foreign assistance on an urgent basis and in a manner consistent with efforts to respond to the spread of a pandemic in the United States; and waiving certain travel restrictions implemented to help contain the spread of a pandemic in order to facilitate the medical evacuation of United States Government implementing partners, regardless of nationality.