As a group of healthcare organizations work to fight the gradual effects of climate change, members of the Senate heard last week about the array of public health catastrophes that healthcare providers have to be ready to handle at a moment's notice.
“We don't really know where the next public health crisis is going to come from,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in her testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education, held Sept. 29.
“It could be a dirty bomb in a subway car, it could be a naturally occurring superbug that's resistant to all treatments, it could be a biological weapon that we've never seen before,” Sebelius said.
Responding effectively to public health threats, such as an influenza pandemic, will require the ability to produce medical countermeasures—vaccines, antivirals, antibiotics, medical equipment and other defenses—quickly in the face of a crisis.
Sebelius referred to HHS' August review of the federal government's system to produce medications, vaccines, equipment and supplies needed for a health emergency, known as the medical countermeasures enterprise. Sebelius said the report demonstrated significant weaknesses. “We found that the pipeline that we rely on to provide critical countermeasures is unfortunately full of leaks and chokepoints and dead ends,” Sebelius said.
The report also contained several recommendations aimed at ramping up medical countermeasures. For instance, Sebelius said, steps must be taken to streamline the approval process. Also, the report's authors urged the creation of a venture-capital firm that would provide initial funding for small companies “with big ideas for public health preparedness.”
