The Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats (PREVENT) Pandemics Act is one step closer to reaching the Senate floor. The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the proposed legislation Tuesday.
If passed, the bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act would establish a legislative branch task force — the National Task Force on the Response of the United States to the COVID-19 Pandemic — in an effort to strengthen federal and state preparedness for future public health emergencies. The task force would be modeled after the 9/11 Commission.
A spokesperson for the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living told the McKnight’s Business Daily that the organization is “still reviewing the bill, but we support any efforts that will prioritize our residents and help recruit and retain more frontline caregivers.”
Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) stated: “If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that we never want to go through a pandemic like this again. I’m grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their hard work on this bill and look forward to passing it and showing families across the country that Congress is serious about ensuring we are better prepared to protect our economy, our communities, and our families the next time a crisis like this strikes.”
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), ranking member of the committee, added that the PREVENT Pandemics Act marks a “significant step in nearly a year of committee work reviewing our nation’s pandemic response.”
The draft of the PREVENT Pandemics Act passed in committee Wednesday includes steps to:
- improve strategy and coordination among public health preparedness agencies
- strengthen supply chain and government stockpiles of medical products, such as masks, drugs, vaccines and tests
- ensure the CDC’s accountability and leadership by requiring a Senate-confirmed CDC Ddirector and an agency-wide strategic Plan
- improve capabilities to detect and monitor emerging infectious disease and other threats, including updates to public health data to quickly provide comprehensive, actionable insight during public health emergencies
- enhance the development and review of tests, treatments, and vaccines, and mitigate critical shortages of medical products
- address disparities which make public health emergencies harder on at-risk populations and communities
- improve public health communication and address misinformation
- revitalize the public and community health workforce
- accelerate biomedical research to develop medical countermeasures for pandemic threats, and enhance research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 and faster test development
- ensure continued access to mental health and substance use disorder services during public health emergency responses
- establish an independent task force to conduct a comprehensive review of the COVID-19 response
“COVID-19 won’t be the last pandemic that we will confront. It’s critical that we learn all we can about the vulnerabilities COVID-19 exposed so we can be better prepared for future outbreaks,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated Wednesday in a press release.
The PREVENT Pandemics Act now will move to the full Senate for consideration.
