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Senator Tom Harkin calls U.S. pandemic preparedness plan "understaffed," "under-equipped"

Emergency Management Alert, December 7, 2005

As part of the Global Health Initiative at the D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will speak on "Mobilizing to Fight an Avian Flu Pandemic," at the Center on Dec. 7. Harkin believes the administration's plan to fight the bird flu falls short. He says the plan does not place enough emphasis on preparation and falls "dangerously short in preparing state and local health agencies to cope with a pandemic, potentially leaving our front-line defense under-funded, understaffed, under-equipped." Read more at www.wilsoncenter.org.

It would make sense that Harkin would step forth with comment; he is a member not only of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions but that body's Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and [the] Farm Industry. The remarks are a follow-up to those shared by committee members at the latter's Nov. 17 meeting on eradication of the bird flu threat in the U.S.
A link to an audio transcript of that meeting is here.

Those who follow this site and remember our story about the online avian flu forum hosted by the White House may recall that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding responded therein to queries from citizens after President Bush's announcement that $7.1 billion would be allocated to fight the threat. Dr. Gerberding also spoke at the Nov. 17 meeting. Her remarks may be accessed on the home site of Emergency Management Alert.

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