Avian Flu Press Conference
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Printable FormatRemarks of Senator Barack Obama
Washington, DC
It has now been more than one year since the government first released its draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan.
In that year, we have witnessed the relentless spread of avian flu from Southeast Asia to Western China, from Russia to the European continent.
Just yesterday, we learned that it may have come even closer to home.
Ducks in seven Canadian provinces have now tested positive for avian flu. If further tests do indeed show that they are carrying the H5N1 strain, it is only a matter of weeks before a migrating bird brings this deadly disease to our front door.
121 people have already contracted the avian flu from infected birds. Sixty-two have lost their lives. And if the virus ever mutates so that it can be passed from human to human, we will face global pandemic influenza that may kill millions.
Forty countries now have pandemic preparedness plans, but until today, the United States was not one of them.
Countries like Japan, France, England, and others have now stockpiled enough Tamiflu to cover a quarter of their populations. With enough to cover just two percent of our population, the United States is again not one of these countries.
We find this unacceptable, and so we are encouraged by the President's decision today to join the efforts we've been pursuing in Congress to combat the avian flu for nearly a year. But we must do more to prevent this pandemic. Much more.
Mr. President, the United States cannot afford to have a Katrina-level of preparedness or a Katrina-like response to an international outbreak of Avian flu. With so many warnings and so much knowledge of the threat we face, there is no excuse for failure this time around.
The President said today that this pandemic would require "the immediate attention of the United States Congress so we can have the resources in place to begin implementing this strategy right away."
The good news is that many of us in Congress did not wait for the President to schedule a speech. Instead, we have already acted to ensure that our country is not left behind.
In March, I requested $25 million in funding for greater global partnership, with the creation of an international council and more surveillance. This is money being used to prevent the flu right now.
The President said he was going to send the Congress a funding request for $7.1 billion dollars for avian flu preparedness at home. But fortunately, the resources are already there.
In September, we successfully secured $3.9 billion in funding, and just last week I worked with Senator Harkin and others to increase that number to $7.9 billion.
In the AVIAN Act of 2005, which I introduced in April, I laid out a number of steps that were echoed by the President today. However, the legislation went a few steps further. Obviously we haven't seen the written plan just yet, but I do want to point out a few additional areas that should be part of this Administration's plan.
First, the plan does not lay out a clear chain of command in the event of a crisis. It is unclear whether the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Health and Human Services will lead the response effort, but we have all seen during Katrina how important a clear chain of command is, and so the President should clarify this.
Second, the plan's outreach and avian flu educational efforts seem limited to those with the ability to visit the government's website. The Senate included $75 million for an aggressive outreach campaign to the American public, and the President should do the same.
Third, the President's proposed investment in the stockpiling of antivirals may fall short of what is ultimately needed. In the Senate we allocated an additional $2 billion to cover half of the American population. More will be needed if we are to prevent a pandemic.
The President's proposal allocates money differently - he uses more money for the development of cell based vaccines. While this is good, again, more funding is needed to ensure we have the antiviral medicine our country needs.
Fourth, it is unclear how much assistance the federal government is willing to provide already cash-strapped states to strengthen their fragile health infrastructures. The Senate appropriations bill provides $600 million to bolster the public health infrastructure. We should keep this figure.
Finally, the President's plan does not request funding for contingency planning and surge capacity for hospitals. The Senate provides $750 million to help doctors and hospitals expand their services and care for more patients in case of pandemic.
The devastation wrought by the hurricanes of the last few months has shown us that we cannot stop the forces of nature. But as the wealthiest country on Earth, we can prepare, and we can respond in a way that saves as many lives as possible.
We must do that now with the Avian Flu.
We are encouraged that the Administration has finally released its preparedness plan, and we look forward to working with them on implementing the strongest version possible as soon as possible.