Senate should consider Trump’s health officials’ picks with next pandemic in mind

The next few years could see a disastrous confluence of events: The emergence of a deadly bird flu epidemic at a time when the nation’s public health leadership team is in charge. unequipped to agree with its consequences. what could happen it will probably go wrong?

To be clear, there is no certainty that the world will face bird H5N1 influenza (“bird flu”) epidemic next year or any time in the future. There is important genetic barriers included in adaptation to high levels of replication of the avian virus in humans. But it would be extremely imprudent to ignore the possibility of a pandemic that would have dire consequences for America and indeed the world. Other authors to share these concerns.

There may be an H5N1 influenza epidemic in humans orders of magnitude more lethal than SARS-CoV-2 A virus that has killed more than 1 million people in the United States alone. What’s more, flu viruses are often highly contagious once they adapt to a new host (in this case, humans), so the rate of spread across the country can be rapid. Infectious disease scientists have worried about a new flu pandemic for decades; Actually, modeling scenarios inside Decades before 2020 typically based on flu virusesIt’s not a coronavirus.

H5N1 virus infects many bird species worldwide and is becoming increasingly common spreading across the country’s cattle herdsIt can infect humans, but currently only occasionally. As of the time this article was written, 58 cases of human infection Defined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These cases in America have mostly been traced to chickens, other birds, and more recently cattle on farms. There are human infections it was only rarely severe — Symptoms are usually mild and short-lived. But the further the bird virus spreads, the more likely it is that significant genetic changes will occur that allow the virus to replicate at high and dangerous levels in humans and spread directly from one person to another. At that point, it is quite possible that a pandemic will occur.

Flu The evolution of the virus is a numbers game; The more infections occur in humans, the greater the chance that the virus will mutate and the greater the likelihood of dangerous mutations emerging. We don’t know when or even if this will happen. But it would be extremely irresponsible to act as if you can’t do this.

Dealing with the threat of a pandemic requires advance planning and decisive action when appropriate. We are currently in a transition period between the Biden administration’s health care leadership team and Trump’s current picks to replace them. Transitions in times of danger are never ideal, but this one seems particularly problematic. Trump’s Elected leaders lack experience with public health management infectious diseaseQ. They exhibited it on several occasions strong opposition standard public health measures

Robert Kennedy Jr. Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services he said To NIH scientists: “God bless you all. Thank you for your public service. “We will take a break from infectious diseases for about eight years.” This is not an encouraging sign at all. Kennedy, Martin Makari (the potential next head of the Food and Drug Administration) and Jay Bhattacharya (He was chosen to lead the National Institutes of Health) made many statements against this law standard public health precautions Limited virus spread during the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. Will these authorities press for the use of effective measures? masking, Social Distance And quarantine strategies What if an even deadlier respiratory virus began spreading rapidly through American cities? If they refuse to do this personal philosophiesThe body count could soon be huge.

Vaccines are our best tool for reducing an epidemic. Covid-19 vaccines, especially those based on mRNA technology, eventually broke the back of this epidemic in 2021 and 2022 by reducing rates of severe disease and mortality to more manageable levels. It is estimated that these vaccines save millions of American lives and trillions of dollars in health care costs. Conversely, rejection of the Covid vaccine has been fueled by misinformation. conservative media Points of sale that play an important roleprobably contributed nearly hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths in unvaccinated people.

Unfortunately, key Trump administration nominees have attacked vaccines in general and mRNA vaccines in particular. Kennedy and potential new CDC head Dave Weldon There are long records anti-vaccine movementAnd Bhattacharya was a prominent advisor anti-vaxxer Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. So, can they support the further development and rollout of ongoing avian flu vaccine development programs? traditional egg based or more modern designs, including safe and efficient solutions mRNA technology? Failure to act in time would be a fatal mistake.

The Department of Defense is responsible for protecting America against foreign military threats. It is inconceivable that this department would be headed by pacifists who ban the use of bombers, tanks and battleships. A bird flu virus could kill many more Americans than would die in any conventional war; yet we are on the verge of appointing a health care leadership team that ignores infectious disease threats and rejects the best weapons available for humanity’s never-ending war. killer viruses. The United States Senate must meet its constitutional requirements and flag public health nominees who could disappoint the country in a foreseeable crisis. Because we cannot predict when the next attack will occur.

This article was first published on: MSNBC.com