Five years after the first coronavirus case, how prepared is the U.S. for the next pandemic? : NPR

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Monday marks five years since the first case of coronavirus was recorded in the United States. Well over a million Americans died in the years that followed. Of course, viruses are still with us and there is also the threat of new pandemics, including bird flu. NPR's Will Stone joins us. Will, thanks for being with us.

Will Stone, host:

Sure, Scott.

SIMON: You were in Seattle when the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the United States in January 2020, right?

Stone: Yeah. He is a man in his 30s who returned from Wuhan, China. And at the time, the message from public health officials was that the risk of human-to-human transmission was low. In fact, it wasn't until the following month that it became clear that the virus was circulating in communities here in Seattle and elsewhere in the country.

SIMON: And five years later, how prepared is the United States for a new crisis like the coronavirus?

Stone: That's a complicated picture. Certainly, there is a lot of disillusionment with public health and medicine. You would expect life in this country to be better after a major pandemic. But Dr. Andrew Pavia of the University of Utah told me he doesn't see it that way.

Andrew Pavia: We haven't done a very good job of changing the things that need to change. I'm very tired. There is a lot of trauma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Stone: The health care industry has seen an exodus of nurses and doctors. The same trend applies to public health workers. Meanwhile, trust in public health and government institutions is declining due to misinformation, fights over masks, and school closures. Many things could have played a role. And a recent Harvard University study found that trust in doctors and hospitals has fallen from 70% in 2020 to less than 50% in early 2024.

SIMON: So what might happen as a result of that?

Stone: Yes. It's hard to overstate what that means, Scott. We spoke to Lauren Sauer about this. She is a pandemic preparedness expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Lauren Sauer: People have to be involved in public health, right? The public is the most important part. You can build all the systems in the world and they won't work unless we really spend a lot of time restoring trust in public health.

STONE: And with that, funding is also under threat. While there has been an infusion of funding during the coronavirus pandemic, there have also been proposals from House Republicans to cut funding to public health programs, including the CDC. And it could gain momentum with President-elect Trump's inauguration on Monday.

SIMON: Are there any silver linings when it comes to pandemic preparedness?

Stone: Yes, there has been some progress. Ability to conduct wastewater monitoring to track disease spread. This is one example given by Caitlin Rivers. She is at Johns Hopkins University and recently wrote a book about fighting infectious diseases called “Crisis Averted.”

Caitlin Rivers: Technology really stands out as an area where we've had some great success. I think the focus right now is on diagnostic testing and vaccination. The MRNA platform has been highly successful and provides new tools to rapidly develop vaccines against the next pandemic pathogen.

STONE: And public health experts say vaccine readiness is key to bird flu. Therefore, the government is stockpiling existing vaccines and developing new mRNA vaccines in case the epidemic spreads.

SIMON: So what is the incoming administration saying about bird flu?

STONE: Well, it's been mostly silent. It is true that President Trump has experience with Operation Warp Speed, which produced a coronavirus vaccine. But scientists like Andrew Pavia of the University of Utah have concerns based on the record of some of Trump's health policies. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has long led an advocacy group that is a major figure in the anti-vaccination movement.

And Scott, yesterday we learned that in the spring of 2021 Kennedy filed a citizen petition with the FDA on behalf of his advocacy group. In it, he called on government agencies to revoke the authorization of coronavirus vaccines for all demographic groups. Of course, the FDA denied this request, but President Kennedy has a long history of making inaccurate and misleading statements about vaccines, and has already made statements that undermine confidence in existing avian influenza vaccines. We reached out to the transition team for comment on their plans, but did not receive a response.

SIMONExBulletin health correspondent Will Stone. thanks so much.

Stone: Thank you.

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