Dawn OConnell, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and ResponseIn 2019, the Global Health Security Index rated the United States as the country best prepared to face a pandemic in the world. Simply months later, as the United States had a hard time to contain a novel coronavirus, federal government companies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drew criticism with high-profile fumbles, consisting of sending out polluted tests for the infection. Now, as initially reported by The Washington Post, President Joe Bidens administration intends to improve the federal government response to pandemics and other health emergency situations by handing additional responsibilities to a team within the Department of Health and Human Services called the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The relocation will raise ASPR to the division level, on par with agencies such as the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ASPR, which has about 1,000 personnel members, already oversees some elements of pandemic reaction, such as the Strategic National Stockpile of medical supplies and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). In an internal memo announcing the strategy that was acquired by the Post, ASPR head Dawn OConnell composed that the change would permit the department “to activate a coordinated nationwide reaction quicker and stably during future disasters and emergency situations while equipping us with higher hiring and contracting capabilities.” The memo does not specify what, if any, brand-new obligations ASPR will take on. In comments to The New York Times, former CDC consultant Lawrence Gostin calls it “more than a little vague, that makes it much more discouraging.” The Post notes that ASPR has actually clashed with the CDC in the past, consisting of in 2018 when ASPR took control of the responsibility of managing the strategic stockpile, and early in the pandemic when HHS entities uncertain about their respective functions bungled the evacuation of Americans from Wuhan, as revealed in a later Government Accountability Office report. CDC representative Kevin Griffis informs the Post that agency is “encouraging of Assistant Secretary OConnells vision for ASPR– a critical partner for us in attending to public health hazards.” However some experts who spoke with Times about the relocation voiced issues about the possibility of moving some duties to ASPR. “Im worried it will be unclear whos in charge and it will produce more confusion,” Luciana Borio, a former acting chief researcher at the FDA and National Security Council official, informs the Times. “The C.D.C. is vital to the response. Any act that more wears down C.D.C.s function will be destructive.” Talking to the Post, OConnell states that the CDCs relationship with state public health departments “is important, and we depend on that as were distributing vaccines and rehabs in a entirely collaborative and helpful way. Theres been room, definitely, in this pandemic for each of us to do our own lines of work, while working collaboratively as part of a bigger reaction team.”.
Now, as initially reported by The Washington Post, President Joe Bidens administration aims to enhance the government response to pandemics and other health emergencies by handing extra responsibilities to a group within the Department of Health and Human Services called the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The memo does not define what, if any, brand-new obligations ASPR will take on. Some experts who spoke with Times about the relocation voiced issues about the prospect of moving some obligations to ASPR.
