Almost two years since we warned about China’s “biological Chernobyl” – the COVID-19 pandemic – the world has seen more than 5.4 million deaths, about 15 percent of them Americans. With the rise of the Omicron variant and other unknown but inevitable mutations, this crisis is far from over. The Biden government has announced a robust testing program for the U.S. population, as well as vaccine and mask mandates. Although 500 million rapid tests are good, President BidenJoe BidenBiden, Legislature Mourn Harry Reid, 29 Percent of GOP Support Effort to Indict Jan 6th Rioters: Poll Congress Must Hit The Moment To Hold Big Pharma Accountable MOREThe plan to fight the pandemic is inadequate.
No doubt the US people (and the world) must learn to live with this virus. At the same time, however, we need to find a solution to mitigate the consequences. This is true regardless of the origin of COVID-19 – whether it occurred naturally, leaked from laboratories in Wuhan, China, or was intentionally released. The goal should be not only to eradicate the virus and its variants, as the world did with the smallpox virus, but also to develop and prepare a robust ability against future deadly viruses as well as other diseases.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the anthrax attacks of 2001, the US government went to great lengths to establish a bio-defense system to protect the country from biological and other attacks by establishing the Bioshield project. This included medical countermeasures and building up biological defenses such as diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines. At the time, President George W. Bush declared: “We refuse to remain inactive when modern technology could turn against us. We will collect the great promise of American science and innovation to meet the greatest threat of our time. “
But nearly two decades and tens of billions of dollars in spending later, our bio-defense cannot protect Americans from the current pandemic. While the success of the US vaccine launch is laudable, it remains imperfect and late for millions of Americans. All vaccines and drugs are still ineffective in preventing infection from COVID-19 and its variants. According to ABC News, more than 16,700 vaccinated Americans had died from the disease between April and November 2021, and breakthrough cases reached 1.8 million. This is unacceptable; the US has to do better.
We need to rethink our strategy for building a stronger bio-shield for the American people. This could be achieved by initiating a critical review of the bio-defense system and reforming and strengthening the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Past success in dealing with emergencies provides one approach. The Manhattan Project and the Apollo Program are two good examples. Both succeeded because the government relied on American ingenuity. It brought together the best and brightest scientists, technologists and project managers and provided enough money to solve the most pressing problems.
We believe that President Biden should learn from Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy to suspend his legislative agenda like Build Back Better and focus on solving the current health crisis and ensuring an adequate government response so that future virus outbreaks can be contained . This would require putting together a team of the best talent the country can offer and sufficient resources through an Emergency Authorization (EEA) to eradicate COVID-19. This would put the United States on a course of full economic and social recovery while building a greater ability to respond quickly to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) pathogens, pandemics, and other emerging infectious diseases.
The public-private partnership model works for most public goods as there is no significant commercial market for CBRN countermeasures. However, when it comes to developing vaccines and therapies for pandemics and implementing vaccinations, a significant number of Americans are still rightly or wrongly concerned that big pharma may be supplying substandard products and that the government may be using their products to make their products better get more money from taxpayers. Insufficient transparency into the BARDA funding process and oversight lead to conspiracy theories and have helped lower the vaccination rate.
In this case, we think it would be better to take for-profit biotech and pharmaceutical companies out of the equation. This would allow the government to regain full control of this type of public good and could increase the confidence of the American people. Congress could put in place oversight through the Government Accountability Office to closely monitor government programs.
In addition to these proposed measures, the US government should harness American ingenuity by creating a “pandemic award” for solutions to eradicate COVID-19, with a significant financial incentive to motivate people to participate and better invest and invest Promote research environment for innovations.
The pandemic has cost America hundreds of thousands of valuable lives and trillions of dollars. It is sure to do more harm even if we find ways to mitigate it. Future CBRN pathogens, pandemics, and infectious diseases could be even more dangerous and deadly if we don’t improve our bio-defense and make sure it’s strong enough to keep Americans safe.
In 1986 a world-threatening crisis occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant when the Soviet Union made a terrible situation possible – and even today the world must contain the consequences of this catastrophe. The number four RBMK reactor will remain radioactive for thousands of years and its protective envelope must be maintained, which requires constant on-site vigilance. It is the same with pandemics: We need constant awareness in order to guarantee the detection of future virus and other disease outbreaks and a quick protective reaction.
The US doesn’t seem to have this ability. A lasting legacy of the Biden administration would be to provide leadership in this area and provide such capabilities to the United States – and perhaps the global population as well.
Bradley A. Thayer has written extensively on terrorism and is co-author of America’s Achilles’ Heel: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons Terrorism and Covert Attack.
Lianchao Han is Vice President of Citizen Power Initiatives for China. He worked for 12 years in the US Senate, among other things as Policy Director for the former Senator Judd Gregg (RN.H.), one of the authors of the Bioschild Act. His postgraduate studies in biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University focused on vaccines.
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