A new attempt to strengthen the U.S. public health, medical preparedness, and response system will have its day in the Senate, after it was voted forward in a 20-2 vote by the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
The Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats and Pandemics Act (PREVENT Pandemics Act) was a bipartisan creation of U.S. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Richard Burr (R-NC), chair and ranking member HELP Committee, respectively. It also incorporated ideas from 35 other bills and 41 different senators. It was created as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed several problems with existing operations.
“Time after time, we have seen how our response to this pandemic could have and should have been better—and the bipartisan legislation we advanced today will ensure we do respond better in the future,” Murray said. “After all our families have been through, we owe it to everyone who has worked so hard to get us through this pandemic to take action, so we are never in this situation again. I’m glad we are coming together and showing Americans there is bipartisan agreement we must learn from this crisis.”
As proposed, the bill would push numerous efforts at revision both within and beyond governmental response, including:
- Improving strategy and coordination among public health preparedness agencies
- Strengthening the medical supply chain and government stockpiles
- Requiring the CDC director and the agency’s strategic plan to be Senate-confirmed
- Improving detection and monitoring capabilities for emerging infectious diseases
- Enhancing development and review of tests, treatments, and vaccines while shoring up medical product shortages
- Tackling disparities that make public health emergencies harder on at-risk populations
- Cracking down on misinformation
- Revitalizing the public and community health workforce
- Accelerating biomedical research related to pandemic threats, long-term COVID-19 effects, and faster test development
- Guaranteeing access to mental health and substance use disorder services during public health emergencies
- Creating an Independent Task Force to review COVID-19 response
“As we continue to evaluate the lessons learned from the pandemic, the central issue facing us today is how we can better anticipate the next threat we will face and innovate quickly enough to rise to the challenge,” Burr said. “This bipartisan legislation represents a milestone in our efforts to fill current gaps and build on the successes in our pandemic response. The PREVENT Pandemics Act includes critical and necessary reforms to improve CDC accountability and transparency to restore the public’s trust in the agency after its repeated failure to effectively communicate its decision-making to the American people. With this bill, Congress can help ensure America has better tools, better resources, and stronger leadership for the next threat we will inevitably face.”
More than 966,000 people in the United States have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic since it began more than two years ago, according to data from Johns Hopkins. Early efforts to contain it were complicated by mixed government response, disruptions in the supply chain, and misinformation.