By IDSE News Staff
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions marked up the PREVENT Pandemics Act, a package of measures aimed at strengthening the nation’s preparedness for future health emergencies.
Marking up a bill is the process by which the proposed legislation is debated, amended and reworked.
The 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, and incorporates ideas from multiple members on both sides of the aisle. This draft legislation lays the groundwork to build a stronger public health and medical preparedness and response system, according to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), when she and Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the ranking member of the committee, released the discussion draft for the PREVENT (Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats, and Pandemics) Act, in January.
"After everything our nation has been through these past two years, we owe it to everyone who worked so hard to get us through this crisis to take every step we can to make sure we are never in this situation again, and that’s what this bill will help us get done,” Sen. Murray said.
“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,” Sen. Burr added.
The bill includes a key provision championed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and its HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA): the Bio-Preparedness Workforce Pilot Program to provide loan repayment to healthcare professionals with expertise in infectious diseases and emergency preparedness. The program is intended to help reduce financial barriers to entering ID-related careers and to ensure equitable distribution of ID expertise in underserved communities across the country.
“The infectious diseases workforce is the backbone of our nation’s pandemic preparedness and response, but currently nearly 80% of counties in the U.S. do not have a single ID physician. The Bio-Preparedness Workforce Pilot Program is a critical step to help ensure we have the experts we need to build resilience in all communities,” said IDSA President Daniel P. McQuillen, MD, FIDSA.
The pilot program included in the PREVENT Pandemics Act would complement the National Health Service Corps, which offers loan repayment for those providing primary care, dental, mental health and substance use treatment.
“This support and incentive to enter the infectious diseases field is critical to ensure every community across the country is prepared for the next pandemic and to end persistent epidemics like HIV and viral hepatitis,” said HIVMA Chair Marwan Haddad, MD, MPH. “We have the tools to end HIV as an epidemic in the U.S. and to eliminate viral hepatitis, but fall short in ensuring these interventions reach everyone who needs them.”
The PREVENT Pandemics Act includes many other provisions supported by IDSA and HIVMA, including provisions to provide loan repayment to individuals working in state and local public health departments, strengthen medical supply chains, accelerate research and medical countermeasure development, and improve public health data.
The bill also includes an important provision to expand surveillance and laboratory capacity for detecting antimicrobial resistance. However, it fails to more comprehensively address antimicrobial resistance; a separate bipartisan effort focused on antimicrobial resistance, the PASTEUR Act, is under consideration.
The PREVENT Pandemics Act must now be considered by the full Senate. Freestanding legislation to establish loan repayment for ID and preparedness experts—the Bolstering Infectious Outbreaks Preparedness Workforce Act—is gaining bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. IDSA and HIVMA urge the chambers to come together to support the next generation of ID healthcare professionals by advancing much-needed loan repayment legislation.
—From an IDSA statement
