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Whereas many people could also be weary of writing pandemic tales, journalists ought to proceed protecting pandemic threats; one other one might be brewing due to local weather change, altering international safety situations and the potential for bioterrorism, public well being consultants say.
“We should be ready for one thing that’s worse than COVID,” Tom Inglesby, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Middle for Well being Safety on the Bloomberg College of Public Well being, said at a March 31 Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Pandemic Preparedness & Well being Safety briefing for lawmakers’ employees and media.
One method to hold writing about pandemics is to cowl this 12 months’s Congressional debate on the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act (PAHPA) — one of many few must-pass measures on Congress’s plate that might authorize continued funding of lots of the federal authorities’s efforts to organize for one more pandemic, reported Lauren Clasen for Roll Call.
Amongst many issues, the invoice would direct funding for hospital preparedness, surge capability for medical personnel in an emergency public well being state of affairs and funding in medical therapies for potential pandemic threats — all areas ripe with information hooks for tales.
For instance, the American Hospital Affiliation, which represents 5,000 of the nation’s hospitals and well being methods, urged Congress to help the PAHPA invoice to assist replenish funds to shore up hospital sources in preparation for future public well being emergencies. Localize this story by writing about how and why federal hospital preparedness {dollars} could be used to organize for one more public well being emergency and what it will imply if these funds weren’t obtainable. You could find American Hospital Affiliation media contacts here.
A enterprise story may give attention to how the Well being and Human Companies Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is working to fund home manufacturing of private protecting gear (PPE), like masks and gloves, to stop the unfold of contagious infectious respiratory illnesses.
Throughout the starting of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been nearly no home producers of PPE, and well being care suppliers and companies needed to await provides from different nations. Final 12 months, the Biden administration elevated ASPR to an operational function to verify the nation’s medical provide chain — like PPE’s — are sufficient. The company’s persevering with operational authority is into consideration as a part of PAHPA’s reauthorization. The media contact at ASPR is Elleen Kane. Her e mail handle is [email protected].
“Please don’t let PAHPA expire,” former Well being and Human Companies Secretary Kathleen Sebelius mentioned throughout the March 31 steering committee briefing. She added that COVID-19 confirmed the nation that “well being crises will topple our financial system.”
A nationwide angle to think about is how the White Home organizes federal management for pandemic response sooner or later. Below a regulation handed on the finish of 2022, the White Home was directed by Congress to create a everlasting workplace of pandemic preparedness and response coverage, in order that international well being threats stay a high precedence for any administration. Earlier than the pandemic, each president, starting with Invoice Clinton, had a revolving door of world well being advisors employed to answer a illness menace;the place was downgraded or deserted when the menace had handed.
STAT reported on April 6 that the construction of the brand new workplace is “beneath evaluation,” however nothing has been created but. With the general public well being emergency ending on Could 11, the White Home’s present COVID-19 Response Coordinator, Ashish Jha, M.D., M.P.H., is more likely to go away and return to Brown University the place he was dean of public well being earlier than becoming a member of the administration and the response workforce can be disbanded.
“The issue is that nobody actually needs to consider pandemics between after they happen,” Ken Bernard, who labored in biodefense coverage in each the Clinton and George W. Bush White Homes, told STAT.
However the White Home is legally required to create a brand new pandemic workplace. For a media contact, e mail [email protected]. Right here’s a reporter tip from once I lined Congress and the White Home: White Home press typically received’t reply questions straight. I like to recommend calling the press workplace of the lawmaker overseeing a coverage challenge. On this case, you’ll contact Washington state’s U.S. Senator Patty Murray. Her communications director is Amir Avin, who can reached at 202-224-2621. Murray is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees the purse strings of the federal authorities.
For extra background on PAHPA, watch this 45-minute video of the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Pandemic Preparedness & Well being Safety on March 31.
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