Situation Report | September 13, 2021
On September 3, the Biden Administration released a $65.3 billion plan to improve the nation’s pandemic preparedness strategy over the next 10 years, and to be in a stronger position to handle infectious disease outbreaks such as SARS-CoV-2.
The plan, American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming our Capabilities, outlines 5 key areas that require urgent attention and provide opportunities, including:
- Transforming medical defenses, such as vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics;
- Ensuring situation awareness regarding disease threats;
- Strengthening public health systems both domestically and internationally, with a particular focus on reducing inequities and protecting the most vulnerable communities;
- Building core capabilities, including personal protective equipment, stockpiles and supply chains, biosafety and biosecurity, and regulatory improvement; and
- Managing the mission, with seriousness of purpose, commitment, and accountability akin to the Apollo mission, which brought astronauts to the moon decades ago.
Officials called for an immediate outlay of at least $15 billion to “jump start” the efforts and proposed establishing a centralized “Mission Control” that would draw on US government-wide expertise.