National health security advocates argue the U.S. government is not fiscally prepared to address the possible spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States, and it must take rapid steps to ensure funding is in place to head off potential threats.
In Feb. 7 letters addressed to leaders of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House Appropriations subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, the Alliance for Biosecurity expressed support for emergency supplemental appropriations measures to back an aggressive and comprehensive government-wide response to the coronavirus, including significant investment in “research, advanced development, and procurement of medical countermeasures (MCMs).”
The Alliance noted that supplemental appropriations is a better route than transferring funds from other organizations, but if the administration does decide to transfer monies, then establishing a Working Capital Fund could promote cost efficiencies, said the letters, which were addressed to Senate Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), and House Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Ranking Member Tom Cole (R-OK).
The Alliance for Biosecurity, a coalition of biopharmaceutical companies and laboratory/academic partners, works to strengthen public-private partnerships in order to ensure that medical countermeasures are available to protect public health. The organization urged lawmakers to support more robust annual funding for programs “critical to advancing America’s preparedness and response efforts” such as the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Project BIOShield Special Reserve Fund (SRF), the Strategic National Stockpile, and the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE).
The letters were sent prior to members of Congress receiving the president’s fiscal year 2021 budget request, which was released on Monday. The budget proposes funding the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) biodefense and emergency preparedness procurement through the BioShield program and the Strategic National Stockpile, and includes $175 million to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s global health security activities, an increase of $50 million compared to the FY 2020 enacted budget level.
The World Health Organization and the U.S. government have declared the coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, a public health emergency, and infections are being reported in a growing number of countries. As of Feb. 10, there are 12 confirmed positive coronavirus cases in the United States in six states, according to the CDC. In China, there are more than 40,000 reported confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV and the death toll has reached 908, China’s National Health Commission said on Feb. 10.
Considering the potential for the coronavirus to become a global pandemic, the Alliance requested that Congress pass additional funding measures, such as a separate budget line item for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) as “the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) currently has no dedicated funding to address EIDs, so MCMs are often not available for immediate response when an EID outbreak occurs.”
In addition to EIDs, drug-resistant pathogens are costly and challenging to treat, and they can be potentially used as bioweapons by state and non-state actors. The organization writes that there is an “urgent need to take steps to reinvigorate the antimicrobial pipeline.”
The Alliance goes further by asserting that another threat facing the United States is pandemic influenza, which has been a “top national security threat” and “one of the most predictable threats we face as a nation.” However, funding to combat pandemic influenza is through supplemental appropriations. The Alliance suggests Congress authorize BARDA’s pandemic influenza program to develop new influenza technologies, test for known and new pandemic threats, and maintain influenza stockpiles of vaccine and therapies.
Members of Congress are also expressing their concern about the need for additional funding to prepare the United States for additional coronavirus outbreaks.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) wrote to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, including Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), saying that, “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through a number of its agencies, is actively leading critical prevention, containment, and supply chain stability efforts. We must serve as a collaborative partner and ensure that there is sufficient funding for both current and potential future efforts.”
U.S. Sens. Leahy, Murray, Gary Peters (D-MI), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) have also urged the Trump administration to fully fund pandemic preparedness and response efforts. In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, the senators wrote on Feb. 7: “As we have learned from past public health crises such as the Ebola, SARS, and H1N1 outbreaks, pandemics require an aggressive, coordinated response across the federal government. In light of the current novel coronavirus outbreak and the persistent threat of global pandemics, we urge you to fully fund infectious disease and pandemic preparedness and response efforts in your fiscal year 2021 proposed budget.”
“A failure to do so would not only be a danger to the health and welfare of all Americans, but also a threat to our national security,” wrote the senators, who serve as the ranking members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Appropriations Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the Foreign Relations Committee.