Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic

by Scott Gottlieb

It was becoming clear that the trouble with the CDC’s manufacturing process might be the result of a more systemic failure, perhaps related to contamination at the CDC site that was making the kits, and this was now affecting many parts of the agency’s diagnostic test. The CDC wasn’t a manufacturer. In an ideal system, the CDC would have contracted with commercial manufacturers from the outset and wouldn’t have tried to make test kits on its own, even for the public health labs. The CDC eventually reached out to contract manufacturers around February 10, but agreements to enlist the help of commercial companies to make the testing components weren’t completed for about ten days, due to complex issues that would arise in the contracting process. Among other contracting matters, the CDC was trying to assure protection of the agency’s intellectual property around its test design.