APHA Calls for the Funding Necessary to Implement Federal Pandemic Flu Plan

Washington, D.C., November 3, 2005 – "The American Public Health Association welcomes President Bush’s request for funding and the Senate’s passage of about $8 billion for pandemic influenza as an important step forward. Nevertheless, the Administration’s plan still lacks the necessary funds for states and local governments to fulfill their responsibilities as defined in the federal strategy. We cannot ignore the significant gaps in resources that persist in the government’s plan, which largely depends on hospitals, public health labs and state and local health departments to carry out both preparedness and response activities. Before the release of this plan, our public health infrastructure was already in dire need of additional money and employees, and under this plan, those shortfalls will continue."

"Our nation’s public health workers and institutions must be able to rapidly scale-up their efforts to respond to pandemic flu, and we strongly support an associated increase in federal funding to make that happen. Currently, funding levels for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration do not measure up to the potential of this national health threat and the scope of the plan."

"We also support a greater federal purchase of vaccines as well as centralized public distribution, as our current system of private purchase and vaccine distribution may serve as an obstacle to ensuring that individuals most at risk receive vaccines and antivirals. We are pleased with the creation by the CDC of a vaccine database, but we hope this database will build on existing systems and be able to import relevant information from state immunization registries to help us more efficiently track the immunization of high-risk groups. We also agree with the federal plan on the need to implement enhanced surveillance activities on the local, state and federal levels during a pandemic to accurately monitor disease spread, which will complement the activities occurring at the international level by the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza."

"However, we reiterate that without adequate funding, we fear that the promise of this federal plan will languish on many levels, such as the ability of state and local health departments, which are already severely understaffed, to effectively triage pandemic influenza cases, coordinate the distribution of vaccines and antivirals and implement effective communication strategies. Hospitals and public health laboratories, without additional funding, will not be able to stockpile medical necessities, such as lab supplies, masks, gloves and other potentially life-saving supplies that will be in high demand. We cannot cut funds to the very departments that we need to carry out our preparations. We urge the House of Representatives to follow the Senate’s lead in providing the resources necessary to respond to pandemic flu. Without those resources, we fear we will not be able to implement this ambitious blueprint that could save the lives of millions of Americans in the event of a pandemic."