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https://www.usnews.com/news/health-...lling-short-on-pandemic-prevention-study-says
If a Pandemic Hits, the U.S. Isn’t Ready
The federal government hasn’t adequately implemented what was learned from the recent Ebola outbreak, a former Air Force Chief of Staff says.
By Paul D. Shinkman, Senior National Security Writer | May 4, 2017, at 5:23 p.m.
The threat of a global pandemic is growing at a time when the U.S. government is not adequately prepared to respond to one, according to a recent study.
Misinformation about vaccines, the absence of a clear plan for coordination among federal agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Department, and a need to improve public awareness about the threat posed by a biologic outbreak are among the factors that make the possibility of large and deadly pandemics increasingly likely, according to the study from Texas A&M University's Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs.
"Unfortunately it's been a series of pickup games," says retired Gen. Mark Welsh, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff from 2012 to 2016. He now serves as dean of the university's Bush School of Government and Public Service, which contributed to the study. "We've lacked the overarching leadership, the national plans."
As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Welsh oversaw the military's contributions in responding to the Ebola epidemic that peaked in 2014 in West Africa and threatened to expand across the globe. That scenario showed the U.S. government's ability to overcome a lack of planning, and to deploy experts and support staff to affected areas to contain and mitigate the virus' spread.
However, the military and its civilian overseers didn't learn enough from that lesson, Welsh says.
"You generally have a lack of a feeling there is a coordinated response that's on the shelf, ready to go in case something like this happens elsewhere in the world," he says. "And you certainly don't get the feeling there is an international community, even a national community, that is ready and fully prepared with the required memos of understanding and agreements in place to make a response happen."
As past outbreaks become further and further removed, more pressing priorities take precedence over future preparations, he says.
"From a pandemic perspective, we can't afford to look at this that way, because the danger levels are rising. The risk factors are increasing and we can't afford not to be ready," Welsh says.
Among factors the study points to as contributing to the threat of a pandemic is America's anti-vaccine movement, which includes people who believe in a debunked link between vaccines and autism. President Donald Trump himself has indicated he questions the science behind vaccines.
Public-school populations in states like Washington and Texas, meanwhile, are in danger of falling below what the study calls "herd immunity," in which the number of vaccinated people in a particular community is enough to provide protection for those who have not been vaccinated. The study also stresses the need to have uniform vaccination requirements for immigrants and refugees coming to the U.S.
The analysis additionally highlights the importance abroad of USAID, which it says should be tasked with overseeing the entire government's response to pandemics. Unlike the military, this agency already has the authority to carry out such a mission, as well as funding that could be used for it.
USAID also should help developing countries in improving their health care hiring systems, the study says. Not only could this lessen the chances of future pandemics, but it could save the U.S. money – the government spent $2.4 billion in response operations just to the Ebola outbreak.
"This reactive method of disease response is not sustainable and does little to prevent the emergence of infectious diseases at their source," the study states.
[READ: Zika Epidemic in U.S. Could Be a Costly Scenario]
The Trump administration signaled an intent to cut USAID funding through its 2018 "skinny budget" proposal, and reportedly has considered folding the agency into the State Department amid concerns such a move would strip the federal government of the agency's specialized expertise.
"We're not turning our lessons observed in Ebola into lessons learned," says Gerry Parker, a strategic adviser to the Texas A&M-headquartered Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases. The 26-year Army veteran previously served in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Citing the recent spread of the Zika virus, Parker says it's inevitable there will be far worse and more serious pandemics in the near future.
"We'd just better be prepared," he says. "And we're not today."
Tags: USAID, pandemic, Ebola, health care, HHS, Department of Defense, infectious diseases, vaccines, medical prevention
Paul D. Shinkman Senior National Security Writer
Paul D. Shinkman is a national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at pshinkman@usnews.com
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-...lling-short-on-pandemic-prevention-study-says
If a Pandemic Hits, the U.S. Isn’t Ready
The federal government hasn’t adequately implemented what was learned from the recent Ebola outbreak, a former Air Force Chief of Staff says.
By Paul D. Shinkman, Senior National Security Writer | May 4, 2017, at 5:23 p.m.
The threat of a global pandemic is growing at a time when the U.S. government is not adequately prepared to respond to one, according to a recent study.
Misinformation about vaccines, the absence of a clear plan for coordination among federal agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Department, and a need to improve public awareness about the threat posed by a biologic outbreak are among the factors that make the possibility of large and deadly pandemics increasingly likely, according to the study from Texas A&M University's Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs.
"Unfortunately it's been a series of pickup games," says retired Gen. Mark Welsh, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff from 2012 to 2016. He now serves as dean of the university's Bush School of Government and Public Service, which contributed to the study. "We've lacked the overarching leadership, the national plans."
As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Welsh oversaw the military's contributions in responding to the Ebola epidemic that peaked in 2014 in West Africa and threatened to expand across the globe. That scenario showed the U.S. government's ability to overcome a lack of planning, and to deploy experts and support staff to affected areas to contain and mitigate the virus' spread.
However, the military and its civilian overseers didn't learn enough from that lesson, Welsh says.
"You generally have a lack of a feeling there is a coordinated response that's on the shelf, ready to go in case something like this happens elsewhere in the world," he says. "And you certainly don't get the feeling there is an international community, even a national community, that is ready and fully prepared with the required memos of understanding and agreements in place to make a response happen."
As past outbreaks become further and further removed, more pressing priorities take precedence over future preparations, he says.
"From a pandemic perspective, we can't afford to look at this that way, because the danger levels are rising. The risk factors are increasing and we can't afford not to be ready," Welsh says.
Among factors the study points to as contributing to the threat of a pandemic is America's anti-vaccine movement, which includes people who believe in a debunked link between vaccines and autism. President Donald Trump himself has indicated he questions the science behind vaccines.
Public-school populations in states like Washington and Texas, meanwhile, are in danger of falling below what the study calls "herd immunity," in which the number of vaccinated people in a particular community is enough to provide protection for those who have not been vaccinated. The study also stresses the need to have uniform vaccination requirements for immigrants and refugees coming to the U.S.
The analysis additionally highlights the importance abroad of USAID, which it says should be tasked with overseeing the entire government's response to pandemics. Unlike the military, this agency already has the authority to carry out such a mission, as well as funding that could be used for it.
USAID also should help developing countries in improving their health care hiring systems, the study says. Not only could this lessen the chances of future pandemics, but it could save the U.S. money – the government spent $2.4 billion in response operations just to the Ebola outbreak.
"This reactive method of disease response is not sustainable and does little to prevent the emergence of infectious diseases at their source," the study states.
[READ: Zika Epidemic in U.S. Could Be a Costly Scenario]
The Trump administration signaled an intent to cut USAID funding through its 2018 "skinny budget" proposal, and reportedly has considered folding the agency into the State Department amid concerns such a move would strip the federal government of the agency's specialized expertise.
"We're not turning our lessons observed in Ebola into lessons learned," says Gerry Parker, a strategic adviser to the Texas A&M-headquartered Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases. The 26-year Army veteran previously served in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Citing the recent spread of the Zika virus, Parker says it's inevitable there will be far worse and more serious pandemics in the near future.
"We'd just better be prepared," he says. "And we're not today."
Tags: USAID, pandemic, Ebola, health care, HHS, Department of Defense, infectious diseases, vaccines, medical prevention
Paul D. Shinkman Senior National Security Writer
Paul D. Shinkman is a national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at pshinkman@usnews.com
