W.ASSINGTON — The days of a rotating cast of public health workers in the White House may finally be over.
For decades, the president has brought new faces to the White House to coordinate the federal response to threats like Covid-19, mpox, Ebola, AIDS and bird flu.
Now, Congress is looking to make the response to the pandemic permanent in the White House.
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Next year’s government funding package will include a brand-new White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, with a president-appointed director and a staff of up to 25 people.
“They are not simply retiring from that role. [White House Covid-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha] J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies and director of the Center for Global Health Policy, said: “You can’t keep piling up coordinators for each disease.”
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The new Director’s primary responsibilities will be to advise the President on pandemic and other biological threat preparedness and to coordinate response efforts across the federal government. This includes researching new countermeasures and distributing medicines. It also includes assessing government readiness. The director is also a member of the Domestic Policy Council and the National Security Council.
“The function outlined is exactly what is needed in the White House, and one that I have sought for years to avoid having a single agency lead something that overlaps with most branches of the U.S. government. It’s been a while,” said Ken Bernard. He worked on biodefense policies in both the Clinton and George W. Bush White Houses.
Some of the new office’s responsibilities appear to overlap significantly with the existing NSC Global Health Security and Biodefense Directorate, now run by Raj Panjabi, Bernard said. He said there may be consolidation efforts to ensure responses are coordinated under the new office.
Neither the White House nor the National Security Council responded to inquiries about the role of the new office.
It is also unclear from legislative documents whether the office will have its own budget.
One of the most important factors for the success of the new office is that officials leading the defense and health sectors truly believe that the new director actually has the president’s support and authority to direct spending plans and coordinate resources. Believe it or not, Bernard said.
“The president needs to make it clear that this director is my mouthpiece,” Bernard said.
Demand for new offices will begin soon. Within his first year of operation in the office, the director will be required to compile a preparatory outlook report to be published. The director will also lead an interagency working group to assess biosecurity and readiness.
The Secretariat includes an “industry liaison” at the outset of responding to health threats and coordinates private sector involvement in any response efforts.
The provision to create the new office was part of a larger pandemic preparedness package put together by Senate Health Committee leaders Patti Murray (D-Washington) and Richard Burr (RN.C.). Lawmakers are aiming to pass the government’s broader funding package by Friday to avoid a shutdown.
“We routinely underestimate and underestimate our investment in these key aspects of preparedness. Having a Pandemic Response Office with a Director appointed by the White House is a significant development. said Morrison.
