Van Hollen, Menendez Call for Trump Administration to Do More to Help Minority Communities Seeing Higher Impacts from COVID-19

Statement

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and 24 Senate colleagues in calling on the Trump Administration to do more to help minority communities that are seeing a disproportionately higher impact from the coronavirus pandemic. The senators underscored the critical need for demographic and racial data, and that any COVID-19 vaccine or drug treatment trials include women, racial minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

"These disparities are exacerbated by higher rates of chronic disease among many minority populations, inequitable access to health care, reduced rates of economic opportunity, lack of educational opportunities, inadequate access to grocery stores, language barriers and the inability to properly social distance due to working in jobs deemed essential," the senators wrote to Vice President Pence, head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

"[A]ny clinical trials for vaccines and therapeutic treatments of COVID-19 must include participants that racially, socioeconomically, and otherwise demographically represent the United States," the senators added. "[I]nequitable research can lead to dangerous outcomes for those who are not represented in clinical trials. Drugs including chemotherapeutics, antiretrovirals, antidepressants, and cardiovascular medications have been withdrawn from market due to differences in drug metabolism and toxicity across race and sex."

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