Avian Flu Not a Priority for Bush Administration, Says DeLauro
Avian Flu Not a Priority for Bush Administration, Says DeLauro
- While Administration Calls For Quarantine, Additional Research on Vaccines Needed -
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today said the threat of a pandemic of avian flu has not been a priority for the Bush Administration. As of this month, there have been 115 confirmed human cases of avian flu, also known as H5N1, 60 of which have been fatal. Health experts have warned the disease can surface in the U.S., particularly since scientists announced this week the virus that killed 50 million people in 1918 was a bird flu that had jumped to humans.
DeLauro is ranking member of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee with jurisdiction over FDA's budget and a member of the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee with jurisdiction over budgets of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"Avian flu is an international concern that poses a growing risk to our country," said DeLauro. "For the second time in 100 years, we are facing the threat that a deadly animal flu can be transmitted to humans. If a pandemic breaks out, the government must be prepared with a large supply of vaccinations. For that reason, the Bush Administration should be working with the drug industry to look at the source of these flu viruses and their host to develop a vaccination plan."
If a pandemic situation were to emerge, it would be necessary to quickly produce very large amounts of a new vaccine tailored to the specific virus strain involved. According to The Trust for America's Health, the current U.S. stockpile of vaccines available in a pandemic would only cover 5.3 million Americans, leaving over 60 million who could be infected and would not receive medication.
The infrastructure for public health prevention has been gutted in recent years. For example, the House-passed Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2006 cut funding for the CDC by $295 million, including a $31 million cut from last year's funding for public health grants to states to deal with disease outbreak. The bill does include, however, an increase of $50 million for the CDC to purchase flu vaccines for public health departments.
"Although funding for this area has seen a small increase, it does not come close to helping our country prepare for a flu pandemic," said DeLauro. "Previous cuts to the CDC have weakened our infrastructure to investigate and prevent a pandemic outbreak. While the U.S. cannot control countries in which there could be an initial outbreak of this disease from human to human, it can take steps to strengthen our infrastructure and seek support for the UN and World Health Organization."
President Bush said in a news conference earlier this week that he is considering the use of the military to enforce quarantines, if necessary. The government's long-awaited pandemic plan will be released soon. DeLauro said, "The Administration should be discussing ways to shore up our resources now to prevent a deadly outbreak rather than focusing on how to contain it after it strikes."
DeLauro also referenced the work done in 2003 by the KofKoff Egg Farms, a poultry farm in Bozrah, CT when their facility found a low-pathogen strain of the avian flu. KofKoff performed, at its own expense, an emergency pilot vaccination protocol to control and eradicate the outbreak to all chickens. Although the farm was able to eliminate the outbreak, demonstrating the effectiveness of vaccination as one form of containment to the avian flu, USDA never reimbursed KofKoff or recognized this program as a national model. DeLauro has called for more work to be done at USDA to develop vaccination programs that can limit influenza in poultry flocks and diminish the probability of these deadly strains of disease from developing in poultry.
http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2005/October/avian_flu_10_06_05.html