The federal government has canceled $11 billion in funding to the states earmarked for COVID-19 preparation and response. Their stated rationale is that with COVID over, the money is no longer needed.
They could not be more wrong.
First off, COVID is NOT over. It’s not a runaway pandemic anymore, thanks to the vaccines, but hundreds of people still come down with COVID every week, and it still kills. More importantly, viruses mutate, which means the vaccines have to be continually updated. It’s your state health department that makes the latest vaccine available every year, and they prepare us for the next pandemic that will inevitably hit.
In short, the states are the first line of defense against the spread of disease, and now their ability to protect us is being cut off.
In today’s episode, we are investigating how this could affect you and your family, and what the states can do about it, with someone who has spent years helping to coordinate state-by-state responses to health threats of many kinds, including COVID-19. Michael Fraser spent over seven years as CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, or “ASTHO.” I worked closely with Mike when I was NY State Health Commissioner, and we had an extremely informative – if unnerving – conversation.
Missed the episode — check it out here
Check out my takeaways from the conversation below.
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