03 May 2006
Bush Administration Refines Pandemic Preparedness Plan
300 government actions outlined; individual responsibility emphasized
By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington – The Bush administration unveiled a far-reaching plan May 3, directing federal government agencies to take more than 300 actions to prepare for an outbreak of pandemic influenza.
As Homeland Security Adviser Frances Townsend presented the package to the media at a White House briefing, she emphasized that the occurrence of a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in nations across Asia, Europe and Africa does not constitute a human pandemic of disease. Nor, she said, can reliable predictions be made about whether a pandemic is imminent, or when it could occur. Nonetheless, government, businesses, schools, families and individuals need to recognize the possibility and prepare, she said.
“We should understand and prepare for the worst-case scenario,” Townsend said.
The plan demands that federal agencies take some very specific actions, regarding the safety and protection of employees in the event of pandemic. It also requires them to develop a plan for maintaining essential operations at a time when high numbers of employees could be absent due to their own illness of that of a family member. The White House also is ordering government agencies to draw up a communications plan to explain their operations in a time of crisis.
That is the governmental plan, but Townsend said the potential consequences of pandemic illness – potentially millions of people sick -- are so vast that everybody needs to be prepared.
“This means that individual actions are perhaps the most important element of our preparedness and response activities,” Townsend said. The homeland security expert said the plan will rely on individuals exercising some common sense if illness begins to take hold in their towns – avoiding trips to shopping malls or canceling vacations, for instance.
In a federal system, in which the U.S. Constitution reserves certain powers and responsibilities to state and local authorities, the national government is limited in how it can direct other entities to prepare or respond to any event, including pandemic illness. Federal authorities have been reaching out to state and local organizations – public and private – with dozens of meetings to underscore the threat of pandemic and urge the adoption of local preparedness plans.
Those meetings have been held in cities across the country since the overarching national pandemic strategy was first announced in November 2005. (See related article.)
STOPPING A PANDEMIC
The national flu pandemic response plan includes a key international element because the outbreak of disease within the United States likely will depend on whether the animal disease has mutated into a human disease in another country. Townsend said the United States is committed to action wherever that may happen.
“The key elements of an international response effort include, first, agreed epidemiological triggers for international response and containment, the rapid, transparent reporting and sharing of samples, rapid response teams, stockpiles of countermeasures and logistical support for an international response,” she said.
The United States already has committed more than $330 million to the international effort to contain the disease at the first human outbreak. “Minimizing the opportunities for the virus to mutate and helping other nations to prepare should a pandemic virus emerge is a global responsibility and is also the first line of defense for the United States,” she said.
President Bush announced the launch of the international partnerships in September 2005 at the United Nations to heighten awareness of the threat and to work to establish resources for international containment. Donor governments have pledged about $2 billion to that effort so far. (See related article and fact sheet.)
Questioned about whether the United States would close its borders if human pandemic illness broke out overseas, Townsend said the action probably would be ineffective and impractical, given the substantial movement of people, goods and commerce across U.S. borders every day.
“There's a period of time very early on in a potential pandemic where that may be effective, not in stopping the arrival of the virus, but in buying us time in slowing the spread of the pandemic,” Townsend said. “We look at things like departure screening, on-plane screening and arrival screening.”
Decisions about border screening and restrictions on cross-border travel would be made in consultation with international partners, Townsend said.
The new implementation strategy does not address the distribution of vaccine and anti-viral drugs in the event of disease outbreak, Townsend said, because those are decisions that cannot be made in a hypothetical way.
Reporters questioned Townsend with a number of “what ifs” that she turned aside, and instead pointed to some “remarkable performance and progress” that has been made in the last few months.
“One of the actions in the plan is to expand the Medical Reserve Corps, a community-based program of volunteer health and medical providers, by 20 percent: that meant from 350 to 450 chapters in 2006,” Townsend said. “That objective was placed in the draft plan early in 2006, and the Medical Reserve Corps has already achieved it.”
The Bush administration urged the Congress to earmark $7 billion for national and international pandemic preparedness plans, but the lawmakers so far have approved just over half that amount. Townsend said the administration will continue to press Congress for increased spending in the current budget cycle and in years to come.
The White House also issued a fact sheet on the preparedness plan May 3.
For further information, see the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan (PDF, 234 pages).
The central source for U.S. government information on pandemic preparedness is pandemicflu.gov.
For ongoing coverage of avian influenza and international efforts to combat it, see Bird Flu.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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