Columns

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

fighting avian flu

A global pandemic of avian flu – which one scientist calls “the single greatest risk to our world today” – is not a matter of if, but when. An outbreak could occur at any time. But, despite years of warnings, the United States remains woefully unprepared.

To date, avian flu has passed from bird to bird, and from bird to human. But experts in virology say it is only a matter of time before the virus mutates and human-to-human transmission becomes widespread and sustained. An outbreak in Asia could trigger, within weeks, a world-wide outbreak facilitated by air travel and the mass movement of people across borders.

In recent years, I have received briefing after briefing from top government scientists and public health officials. Alarm bells are ringing full blast. But our government again and again delayed coming forward with a plan to prepare the nation for an avian flu pandemic.

So I decided to act. In late October, I sponsored – and the Senate passed – legislation that would allocate nearly $8 billion for a comprehensive, urgent, national effort to prepare for an avian flu pandemic. My legislation will do four broad things:

-- One, as our first line of defense, it will dramatically step up international surveillance of avian flu outbreaks overseas. To borrow a phrase from another context, it is better to fight avian flu over there than here at home.

-- Two, it will ramp up our vaccine-production infrastructure here in the United States. Currently, we have only one plant capable of manufacturing flu vaccines.

-- Three, it will allow us to build up stockpiles of vaccines currently believed to be effective against avian flu, as well as anti-viral medications.

-- And, four, it will strengthen our public health infrastructure – federal, state, and local – which, today, is simply not equipped to cope with a pandemic or a major act of bioterrorism.

Belatedly spurred to action, the Bush administration, in early November, presented its own $7 billion plan to combat avian flu.

While the President’s plan overall is good, and closely tracks many of the essential elements of my avian flu amendment, it falls short in one absolutely critical area: state and local preparedness.

The President’s plan calls for only $100 million to support state and local public health departments. Earlier this year, however, the President’s FY2006 budget cut $120 million for state and local public health preparedness.

The administration’s plan doesn’t fully restore that cut. This is a classic case of “penny wise but pound foolish.” If we have a pandemic, public health departments – and local hospitals – are going to be on the front line. We need to make major new investments in our public health infrastructure, not institute cuts.

The Bush Administration’s plan will also require states to pay for a large share of the avian flu vaccine. This should be a 100 percent federal responsibility, and we shouldn’t force state health departments to divert their scarce resources to paying for vaccines. I will fight to secure appropriate funding for state and local readiness, because that is where the war on avian flu is going to be won or lost.

Obviously, $7 billion or $8 billion is a large sum of money. However, it is less than we spend in two months for the war in Iraq. And, frankly, we have no choice. Right now, the American people are almost totally defenseless against a pandemic of avian flu—a pandemic that could happen next year, or next month.

We have no time to waste. And we dare not be delinquent in fully addressing this grave, potentially unprecedented threat to the American people.