Closing ThoughtsAs we close the HHS Pandemic Flu blog, I want thank all of you for participating. The passion of respondents was a happy surprise to me. I have come to understand there is an army of well trained and motivated people who understand this issue and the need for a sustained concentrated effort. This is the first time I have participated in a blog like this one. It has created an appetite for more. Citizens want to hear from their government leaders and there is value in government leaders hearing from citizens. Educating Americans about the need for individual and family pandemic preparedness is a major part of our mission at HHS. We wanted to bring leaders from health care, business/labor, community and faith-based organizations together but knew a one day meeting wouldn’t be enough so we created a blog to extend the conversation and engage more voices. Every one of us has a role to play—educating others, thinking about those with fewer resources who may face obstacles to preparedness. We will provide community leaders with information and resources on pandemic planning to share with others. Also, we will be identifying around ten communities across the country for increased communications and technical support. The purpose is to identify best practices that can be replicated in other communities across the United States. Thanks again to all the participants and unique perspectives, the commenters for their engagement and the many thousands of visitors from around the world.
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Message from the Secretary
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No Nation Can Go It AloneIt has been a few days since I posted, but I have not been sitting idle. Since my last entry I have been in Panama where I visited a new school the United States is helping Central American countries to develop which will train health workers. The group I visited was in the midst of multi week training on pandemic surveillance. There were 60 students from a total of six countries; most from small communities in rural areas of Central America. Once they complete the course, they are to organize pandemic exercises. It was inspiring and reassuring to see our work in these areas is beginning to work. Then this week we had the Pandemic Flu Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. We had community leaders from civic, faith, school and other sectors gathered. By all accounts the attendees felt great about it. For several days now I have wanted to post my thoughts about an experience I had a couple of weeks ago. We all know a pandemic influenza virus can emerge anywhere in the world. For nearly 50 years, countries around the world have shared flu virus samples freely and openly under an arrangement managed by the World Health Organization. This practice has allowed scientists in authorized labs to track mutations, and, subsequently, vaccines have been made to match those strains. At the World Health Assembly in Geneva last month, several nations made clear they intend to challenge this time-honored system by refusing to share virus samples, unless they receive specific benefits. In essence, they argue, a virus gathered in their countries is, effectively, “intellectual property.” This is short-sighted, and a serious unsettling of an international system that works and has served the world well for five decades. If a person from one country contracts a virus, then travels to another country, where he or she falls ill and infects a second person from whom the virus is isolated, would the first country still claim “rights” to the virus? Would the patients themselves? The logic used in advancing this position carries other consequences. For example, if a virus is property, with attendant rights, does that mean a country should be held liable for damages caused by the spreading of the disease? We continue to call on countries everywhere to share influenza samples openly and rapidly, without preconditions. No nation can go it alone, and we stand ready to help. All nations benefit and all nations have a responsibility to participate fully in the Global Influenza Surveillance Network and to work toward universal implementation of the International Health Regulations. I noticed in the media this week reports that GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis are both donating pre-pandemic influenza vaccine to WHO. Novartis AG also announced approval of the first flu vaccine to use cell lines rather than traditional chicken eggs. Both of these achievements are the result of technology the United States (and others) has been funding to create cell based methods along with adjuvant technology. We are investing billions to achieve this and the world is benefiting! When it comes to pandemic influenza, every nation benefits from transparency and cooperation without precondition.
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Preparedness must be Ethic Not an EpisodeA prominent news editor recently told a friend of mine he thought pandemic influenza was the most overrated story of 2006. While those of you interested enough to read this blog know the reality, once the discussion left the news, most people think the threat has passed, end of story. When preparing the public for a pandemic, leaders struggle with a constant dilemma. Everything they say before a pandemic starts sounds alarmist. However, once a pandemic starts—no matter how much has been done, preparation will seem inadequate. The threat of a pandemic has not subsided nor will it ever. While the H5N1 virus is very much a threat today, if it runs its course and does not achieve pandemic status, there will be another. Pandemics happen. They have and will occur in every century. Our preparation needs to be for pandemics generally, not a virus specific approach. Inevitable, for every actual disaster there will be several we monitor closely and gear up for in caution. To keep from “appearing alarmist,” in our concern about pandemics we need to emphasis all hazards readiness and the general need for personal, corporate and general community preparedness. We need to constantly make the point that when we prepare for pandemics, it makes us a safer and healthier nation. The new vaccine technologies we are developing will make it possible for every American who chooses to have an annual flu shot. The surge capacity we develop would be critical in a hurricane. The lessons we learn in distribution of medication could save lives in a bioterrorism incident. The role of leaders is to make emergency preparation an ethic not an episode. It is the only way our message can be credible and sustainable.
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When You’re Preparing For a Pandemic There’s a Lesson Every DayThis is the first time we have used a blog for this type of discussion and the response has been helpful. In reading comments I am stuck by the thoughtfulness of the entries. We have only been online for a little over a week and already more than 6,000 unique visitors have participated. People seem to be spending a fair amount of time on the blog once they get here so there is reason to be optimistic. We will learn as we go but I expect we will continue to expand this kind of discourse at HHS. A couple of contemporary thoughts. This morning I attended a meeting reviewing preparation for the upcoming Hurricane season. Two things stuck me. First, how different a pandemic is to manage as an emergency than a hurricane. Hurricanes strike, do their damage and we immediately move to recovery. Not so with a pandemic. The second difference was portrayed clearly as we discussed the availability of resources that could be moved from one state to another. In a pandemic it would not be possible to depend heavily on outside resources because the entire country would be engulfed. If a community had not yet been effected, they would be preparing for the inevitable. It emphasized how local the management has to be. The second thought-provoking item has been the quarantined TB patient in the news who reentered the United States. I’ve been asking myself the question: what lessons should we be learning from this incident that will help us in better pandemic preparedness? Any thoughts on this?
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Message from the SecretaryIn the fall of 2005, the President mobilized the Nation to prepare for a pandemic. In response, I traveled to almost every state and territory to hold planning summits. At every level of government, plans were developed and resources were allocated. Today, we are better prepared, but there is still much to do. There is the danger that as avian flu slips from the head lines, people will believe the threat is no longer real. While the media buzz may have died down, the H5N1 virus has not. The disease is highly pathogenic, and it continues to spread. While we cannot be certain H5N1 will spark a pandemic, we can be sure that pandemics happen. They have happened in the past and they will happen in the future. Preparedness is a shared responsibility and must involve every level of government, every business, every church, every civic organization, every family and every individual. And leaders from every sector have a role to play in communicating the critical need for preparedness at home, within the workplace and in our communities. On June 13, I am convening a leadership forum in Washington, DC on pandemic preparedness. This interactive forum will bring together highly influential leaders from the business, faith, civic and healthcare sectors to participate in dynamic discussions to help Americans become more prepared for a possible influenza pandemic. In order to extend the value of this one-day conference, the Department of Health and Human Services is also hosting this blog summit as part of an ongoing effort by the Department to help Americans become more prepared. While the comments made on this blog may not always represent the views of the Department of Health and Human Services, we think there is value is having an open dialogue about this very important issue. Government alone can’t prepare the nation for a pandemic. This challenge requires your leadership. We have an opportunity to become the first generation in history to be prepared for a pandemic. Let’s continue to work toward that goal. Michael O. Leavitt
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