Heidi Alexander: “our great country has developed a dangerous habit when it comes to pandemics. Public health experts call it panic…”

“our great country has developed a dangerous habit when it comes to pandemics. Public health experts call it panic, neglect, panic. In 2007, after the emergence of the Asian flu, former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, who was then the Secretary of Health and Human Services, put it this way: Everything we do before a pandemic seems alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate. This is the dilemma we face, but it should not stop us from doing what we can to prepare. That was Governor Mike Leavitt. Fifteen years ago, then-majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Dr. Bill Frist, told me and told our committee--he made 20 speeches predicting this--that a viral pandemic was no longer a question of if but a question of when. Now, this is in the 2005-2006 era, 15 years ago. He recommended then, Dr. Frist did, what he called a six-point public health prescription to minimize the blow: communication, surveillance, antivirals, vaccines, research, stockpile/surge capacity. Four Presidents of the United States and several Congresses have done some of what needed to be done to prepare for pandemics but not enough of it. There is substantial agreement on all sides about what to do. There is even more agreement that, if we wait until this pandemic is over to do it, we will fall into the familiar cycle of panic, neglect, panic.…”