On White House Strategy for Avian Flu, DeLauro Says "Devil is in the Details"

On White House Strategy for Avian Flu, DeLauro Says "Devil is in the Details"

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today issued the following statement on the White House announcement of a strategy to combat the pandemic of an avian flu. The president has asked Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency spending to stockpile reserves of medicines and to move ahead with the development of a new vaccine. The avian flu virus, also known as H5N1, has killed more than 60 people in Asia. Since the virus can mutate from birds to humans, 140 million birds have been killed worldwide to try and stop its spread.

DeLauro is a member of the House Appropriations Labor HHS Education subcommittee, with jurisdiction over budgets of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). During a hearing of DeLauro's subcommittee October of last year, Dr. Julie Gerberding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the threat of this disease was a crisis.

"I welcome the strategy and the budget request released today - they demonstrate that the White House is taking the threat of this possible pandemic very seriously. Yet I question the timing of White House action on this possible pandemic. Until today, the White House has taken only modest steps toward preventing this imminent pandemic, even though the threat of avian flu reaching the U.S. has existed for several years. And in taking a closer look at the strategy announced today, it seems the devil is in the details.

"Even if our country orders antivirals today, it is doubtful they will be available before 2007. There are also serious concerns over the availability of a vaccine in the timeline that the president has called for. We must do more to boost the manufacturing capacity of both antivirals and vaccines if we are going to have enough vaccines for every American within six months. And this proposal should have included adequate funding for state and local health departments, which will be at the forefront of preparedness."

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2005/November/Avian_flu_strat_11_01_05.html