Excerpts from article:
...We applaud President Trump for putting Vice President Pence in charge of the U.S. government's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
..."The nation lacks a single leader to control, prioritize, coordinate, and hold agencies accountable for working toward common national biodefense. This weakness precludes sufficient defense against biological threats. A leader must take charge of our nation's response to biological crises, as well as day-to-day activities in the absence of such crises. Leadership of biodefense should be institutionalized at the White House with the vice president. This office alone can be imbued with the authority of the president to coordinate agencies, budgets, and strategies across the government in a way that no other position can."
...While it appears Vice President Pence's oversight responsibilities are limited to the novel coronavirus response, we hope the president ultimately puts the vice president in charge of the entire biodefense enterprise to ensure that the government is working optimally to defend against naturally occurring diseases like novel coronavirus, accidents, biological terrorism and the threat of biological warfare from other nation-states.
...The vice president needs to determine how we are going to deal with shortages in medicines and essential medical supplies that we ordinarily obtain from China and other affected countries.
...Our hope is that the vice president, now installed in his new role, along with an interagency team of officials and experts, will not only make substantial progress in responding to this latest outbreak but will also lay the groundwork for coordinating public and private sector activities, ultimately revolutionizing defense of the nation against biological threats, no matter what their source.
Submitted 1515 days ago
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