Opinion: A bipartisan opportunity to strengthen America’s pandemic security

A bipartisan opportunity to strengthen America’s pandemic security Congress must reauthorize the essential PAHPA framework and enact a disciplined set of sensible reforms now. Torie Bosch STAT

In 2006, when many Americans had barely heard the word “coronavirus,” Congress passed the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), a landmark, bipartisan legislative framework that has successfully steered our nation’s biosecurity policy ever since.

Before and during the worst of Covid, PAHPA’s authorities and programs served as the backbone of the country’s public health response, enabling the acceleration of medical countermeasure development via public-private partnerships; a swift regulatory process to make tests, treatments, and vaccines available to Americans; and a strategic distribution and deployment of such medical products and supplies based on need. The PAHPA framework depends on a good-faith partnership between the federal government, states, public health officials, and the private sector.

Its current authorization expires at the end of September, and congressional action to reauthorize it is imperative. As we cope with the post-emergency phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, we must heed the painful lessons we’ve learned during this global crisis and build even stronger defenses against the future infectious disease and other threats that we will inevitably face.

...