Alex Lawson, executive director for Social Security Works, said on Friday that vaccines and other medical treatments need to become universal in order to properly combat the coronavirus outbreak.

"To deal with a pandemic what we need is universal, global treatment to bring down the cases around the world and get this pandemic under control," Lawson told Hill.TV.

"We eradicate diseases only when we work together through government," he said.

Lawson added that letting private pharmaceutical companies work on vaccines doesn't result in a working product faster, but significantly limits who can access and afford the treatment when it is available.

Currently, no vaccine for COVID-19 exists and Dr. Anthony Fauci Anthony FauciTrump disputes CDC director on vaccine timing, says 'he made a mistake' Trump health officials grilled over reports of politics in COVID-19 response Biden says to trust scientists on COVID-19 vaccine, not Trump MORE, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and key member of the White House's coronavirus task force, has warned that it would be at least a year before a vaccine is functional.