Senate health leaders preview bipartisan plan to overhaul the nation's public health response

The heads of a key Senate health committee released a bipartisan road map Tuesday outlining how the legislative branch will review the government’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and take a more proactive approach to the next public health emergency.

“COVID-19 has forced us to have hard conversations on the state of our nation’s pandemic and public health preparedness and response capabilities,” Senator Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said in a statement.

“As the response to COVID-19 continues to evolve, we must reflect on the lessons learned from the last two years and determine where we were successful, where we failed and what we did not anticipate so we are better prepared for the next threat we face. This discussion draft starts that conversation,” he said.

Co-authored by Burr and Senator Patty Murray, D-Washington, HELP Committee chair, the discussion draft for the PREVENT (Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats) Pandemics Act calls for the establishment of a bipartisan task force to examine local, state and federal governments' initial response to COVID-19.

That task force would submit an interim report after 180 days and a final report within one year that would “identify gaps and make recommendations to the president and Congress,” according to a section-by-section of the upcoming bill.

“The pain of this pandemic is unforgettable, and we have a responsibility to make sure its lessons are unforgettable, too,” Murray said in a statement. “The independent COVID-19 task force this bill establishes will allow us to fully account for consequential gaps and breakdowns in our response efforts.”

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Of note, the discussion draft suggests that Congress wants to take a firmer hand on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The PREVENT Pandemics Act would require future directors of the CDC to undergo confirmation by the Senate, according to the draft.

It also requires the agency to develop a strategic plan every four years while instructing the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review whether the agency’s activities are in alignment with that plan.

“One of the biggest challenges we face is addressing the systemic and cultural failures of the CDC under two administrations,” Burr said. “The American people have stopped listening to the CDC because of their confusing and conflicting guidance. Justifiably so.”

“The CDC reforms in this draft are just the beginning of what is needed. Demanding accountability and transparency from the CDC is a critical first step to ensuring that the agency provides clear and timely recommendations that Americans find trustworthy,” he said.

The FDA, meanwhile, would undergo a bevy of changes aimed at curtailing potential product shortages and communicating its decision-making processes. These requirements include evaluations of new products and extended drug expiration dates; a pilot program for unannounced foreign facility inspections; greater surveillance of and enforcement against counterfeit devices; increased transparency regarding emergency regulatory decisions; and a GAO study on the FDA’s hiring, recruiting and retention practices.

“The draft also strengthens our countermeasure enterprise through advancing critical research in this field and in FDA’s development and review of these tests, treatments and vaccines to improve readiness for future threats and bolstering the use of cutting-edge adaptable platform technologies and advanced manufacturing approaches,” Burr said.

Alongside the bill’s increased oversight comes a focus on public health messaging and increased readiness at local, state and federal levels.

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For the former, the draft outlines a requirement that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) establish a Public Health Information and Communication Advisory Committee that would offer the HHS secretary recommendations on disseminating information during an emergency.

HHS would be given the authority to coordinate with and request support from other departments and agencies during a public health emergency as well as measures to ensure coordination between health departments and other state agencies, according to the draft.

The public health workforce would also receive a shot in the arm under the forthcoming legislation, which directs funds to recruit, hire and train community health workers. Further, HHS would gain the ability to quickly appoint up to 250 individuals per year to preparedness and response positions within the department when an emergency is declared.

The senators’ discussion draft also highlights measures to modernize the country’s biosurveillance capabilities, data collection and access, epidemic forecasting and vaccine distribution tracking.

Murray and Burr said the forthcoming legislation “is the result of months of bipartisan work to examine what has worked, and what has not, during the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Tuesday’s draft “lays the groundwork” for upcoming discussions before the bill is formally introduced.

“When Senator Burr and I agreed to work on a bipartisan bill, we both knew it wouldn’t include everything we wanted—but we also knew there was a lot we could agree on, and that it was important people across the country see Congress is serious about making sure we learn from this pandemic,” Murray said. “I look forward to continuing to work on this discussion draft with Senator Burr and my colleagues and to hearing from state, local, Tribal and territorial health experts and officials, and others as we work to strengthen this important bill.”