The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing (PAHPA) Innovation Act, S. 1379, became law on Monday with the president’s signature, prompting accolades from national stakeholders, company executives and federal lawmakers.
The far-reaching law ensures the United States will be better prepared to respond to a wide range of public health emergencies, whether man-made or occurring through a natural disaster or infectious disease.
Overall, the law aims to bolster the nation’s health security strategy, strengthen the country’s emergency response workforce, prioritize a threat-based approach, and increase communication across the advanced research and development of medical countermeasures (MCMs), among numerous provisions contained in the law.
Dr. Robert Kadlec, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which will have oversight of many aspects of the law, said it enables ASPR to continue enhancing the nation’s health security.
“We look forward to using the new or renewed authorities in the law as we work with long-standing and new partners to build readiness and response capabilities against the very serious health security threats our nation faces,” he said earlier today.
A few of the ways the new law does this is via enhanced public-private partnerships, such as between military and civilian entities for trauma readiness; between state and regional hospital coalitions to improve surge capacity and to “address gaps and inefficiencies in emergency preparedness and response efforts for children,” according to the law’s text; and partnerships for the development of vaccines, among others.
For instance, the newly signed law strengthens authorities for specific healthcare programs, including the Hospital Preparedness Program and the National Disaster Medical System, according to Kadlec.
“More than 31,000 healthcare entities across the country participate in Hospital Preparedness Program coalitions,” Kadlec said. “These partnerships in every state and U.S. territory bring together healthcare facilities — not just hospitals — and healthcare services in local communities to provide coordinated medical care during disasters.”
The co-chairmen of the Alliance for Biosecurity also praised the law’s support for public-private partnerships.
“PAHPA enables long-term public-private partnerships, which are essential in safeguarding public health and building resilience against chemical and biological threats and emerging infectious diseases,” said co-chairman Chris Frech, who is also senior vice president of global government affairs for Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
The global biopharmaceutical company develops, manufactures and delivers a variety of MCMs for biological and chemical threats, and for emerging infectious diseases, and has been involved in several long-term and ongoing contracts with the federal government across several areas.
The newly signed law will continue to support such long-term public-private partnerships, added Bob Kramer, president and CEO of Emergent BioSolutions, who also heralded PAHPA as “an essential step toward building resilience against” chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) threats and emerging infectious diseases.
Brent MacGregor, also co-chairman of the Alliance for Biosecurity, agreed.
“This legislative achievement marks a critical milestone in our continued public-private partnership to ensure Americans are better protected against the next influenza pandemic threat,” said MacGregor, who is also senior vice president of commercial operations at Seqirus, a global influenza vaccine company. “We are proud to stand on the front line with our partners to provide rapid access to life-saving influenza pandemic vaccines.”
The co-chairmen of another influential organization, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, also commended President Donald Trump’s signature on the bill.
In fact, many of the provisions contained in the legislation harken to the Blue Ribbon Study Panel’s 2015 report, A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts, which recommended changes to U.S. policy and law to improve national biodefense and maximize resource investments.
Panel co-chairmen, former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, on Monday thanked the Trump administration for supporting these critical public health security priorities at numerous federal agencies, including HHS.
“Many of these programs will enable HHS to better defend the nation against biological threats,” Lieberman said. “Along with the release of the National Biodefense Strategy last September, the administration is demonstrating its commitment to preparedness for, surveillance of, response to, and recovery from pandemic influenza, bioterrorism and other biological threats. We applaud these efforts.”
In the new law, Congress addressed 15 of the panel’s 33 recommendations, including the development of a national strategy to address cyber threats to public health security; streamlining the use of flexible contracting authorities by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA; and coordination between the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to report on biological detection technology and information sharing, among others.
But Ridge pointed out that “there is still much work that remains to be done, but we are grateful that both Congress and the administration are embracing our recommendations and putting them to work on behalf of all Americans.”
The bill was spearheaded in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Bob Casey (D-PA).
Burr on Monday thanked the Senate and the president for prioritizing the law’s policies and programs that he said will keep America’s families safe.
“Whether it’s a disease outbreak, natural disaster or biological attack, it’s essential our nation is prepared to address the ever-growing variety of public health threats and challenges of the 21st century,” said Burr, adding that the new law “ensures our nation is constantly vigilant against these threats” and stands ready to respond with innovative MCMs.
Brooks also commended Trump’s signing of the law, pointing out that the threats it protects against “are not just hypothetical.”
“Threats such as Ebola, smallpox or the pandemic influenza can devastate communities, whether occurring naturally or manufactured into weapons of mass destruction by nation states or terrorist organizations,” Brooks said. “Now that PAHPA has been signed into law, we are one step closer to a safer and more secure future.”
U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), who helped shepherd the bill through the legislative process, applauded President Trump for signing the law, as well.
“The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act represents a long-standing bipartisan commitment to strengthening our national security,” Walden said.
Walden said that although it’s “long overdue,” he’s nonetheless elated that the “nation’s public health preparedness and response programs are now reauthorized and extended to give our federal, state and local officials the tools they need to respond quickly and effectively to ongoing threats of all kinds.”