Pandemic. We follow the advice of the attending physician and the sergeant of arms that were seated at least 6 feet apart. That means theres no room for the public or media here, but the media is participating we hope. And we hope the public is as well. Our website. Our witnesses are participating by Video Conference which is change for the United States senate and a welcome one because it makes it possible for us to attract witnesses to have busy schedules on the same day such as today some are participating by Video Conference senators may remove their masks since we are great thank yout a part to the press gallery and the architect in the capital police, Committee Staff for all their hard work to help keep us safe. Senator murray and i each have an Opening Statement then we will turn to our witnesses we think for being with usfoo today we ask that you summarize your remarks and five minutes to have time for the large number of senators we expect to iparticipate we will have one round of questions for five minutes. Less than four months ago marc march 1st, coronavirus situation at the end of february there were 79000 cases around the world only 14 in the United States except 39 who had been brought home from overseas with the virus. By march 2nd there were two deaths in the United States by d when we had a hearing there were six and on march 1st on sunday the New York Times on the front page it said this, most experts were far from certain that this virus would carry to all parts of the United States and that with the top notch scientists modern hospitals and sprawling infrastructure most experts agree the United States is among the countrys best prepared to prevent or manage such an epidemic. Even six weeks after the first virus was found in the United States, even experts underestimated the ease of transmission and the ability of this coronavirus to spread without symptoms. These qualities made the virus, virus, my Worst Nightmare in the words of doctor fauci. In a period of four months it has devastated the world. This committee is holding this hearing today because even with an event as significant as covid19 memories fade and attention moves to the next crisis while the nation is in the midst of responding to covid19 United States congress should take stock now. With parts of the local and federal state response what can work better and how and how be prepared to pass legislation this year to be better prepared for the next pandemic. On june 9 i released a white paper outlining five recommendations for congress to prepare americans for the next pandemic. Number one, test and treatments and vaccines to accelerate research and development. Number two, disease surveillance to expand our ability to detect identify a model and track Infectious Diseases. Number three, stockpilesy t three, stockpiles, distributions and surges to rebuild and maintain federal and state stockpiles and improve medical supplies Surge Capacity and distribution. Number four, Public Health capabilities, improve state and local Public Health capabilitieser and finally , whos in charge . Improve coordination of federal agencies during a Public Health emergency. I have invited comments and any additional recommendations for the Senate Committee on Health Education to consider i will share the feedback with my colleagues on the democratic and republican side. This is not a new subject for any witness we have today 15 years ago than majority leader bill frisk said at a speech at the National Press club a viral pandemic is no longer a question of if but when. He recommended what he calls a six. Public Health Prescription to minimize the blow surveillance, antivirals, vaccis Surge Capacity. He is one of our Witnesses Today and i am including in the record two of his speeches. Our next witness serves as chief medical executive and chief Deputy Director for health at michigan depart on the department of health and Human Services to helps to work coordinate the states response to covid19 third serving as director of the cdc under president george w. Bush , she has helped to lead the preparedness efforts in response to sars and west nine oh virus h1n1 and the rise of multi drugresistant bacteria like merced. Governor of utah and secretary of hhs and administrator of the epa under george w. Bush following the emergence of the avian flu he left into focused on pandemic preparedness. And he said this 13 years ago the only thing we do have one before pandemic is alarms everything after pandemic we see an adequate thats the ngdilemma we face but that should not stop us from doing what we can do to prepare. Congress has passed legislation to prepare for tpandemics befor before, during the last 20 years for president president s, clinton, bush, obamd several congresses have enacted nine significant lives to help local and faye is and then including a Public Health emergency including a pandemic. 18billion to states and hospital preparedness systems were provided over the last 15 years to help them prepare as well. Congress considered many reports from president ial coomscommissions and inspectors general and gao and outside experts. The reports contain all sorts of warnings that the United States and those issues that are familiar by now im better to change the capacity and quickly and with that public Care Workforce and then the systems to share information within and between states and the federal government. They also report that while states play the lead a role , many states do not have enough trained Healthcare Professionals and had an adequate stockpiles and struggled with funding challenges and the over reliance of inflexible federal funding could contribute to these problems. Looking at Lessons Learned from covid crisis many challenges they are working to address the last 20 years still remain and additionally covid19 has some gaps that have not been those that are instead of drugs that is necessary instead of covid patients. Four months ago we were in the midst of the impeachment of a president now the seems like ancient roman history and makes it imperative they make these changes thiss year to better prepare for the next pandemic i look forward to hearing from the witnesses and appreciate the feedback we are receiving on the white paper said he deadlines of the committee has time to consider it and to draft and pass legislation this yea year, senator murray. Thank you mr. Chairman and oliver witnesses for joining us today i have said before we need to understand exactly anything that has gone rent long long long to our response to cove in 18 is to make sure we are never in the situation again. Went to be absolutely clear how we prepare for the next crisis is no substitute for responding to the crisis at hand to kill 120,000 and continues to spread. Unfortunately the white house is that President Trump has been fading even though there are record increases the Vice President wrote the oped to say we are winning the fight and there is not a second wave the doctor fauci said we are not even first through the first wave yet and those that slap and you so we dont have anything close to testing and any kind of capacity that we need to safely up in our community. Not just officials in the white house sticking their head in the sand leader mcconnell has suggested there is especially after losing 20 million jobs. Even to some of the younger students how that manifested. I hope we dont just spend our time but during this one and once they are risk of repeating because covid19 continues. One lesson we have alreadyh learned this is no gray of course and people with disabilities and so many others. We have known for decades and some are much worse than other especially communities of color that is alarm history of systemic racism and underfunding and those in charge have a responsibility to acknowledge the problem and give everything they can to close the gap. This administration has not taken that responsibility seriously. They turn a blind one a blind eye to the problem. But with the national and universal sick leave policy. So workers can stay home and do whats best and we learned howng important and they need to stop dragging their feet it and immediately checking the standards. Several lessons we need to apply we cannot allow the Trump Administration to bungled is like to have elsewhere. And that we can widely produce and distribute to everyone. When it comes to developing a vaccine we dont just need a fast process but a thorough andbl transparent we need to know its especially after hydroxychloroquine debacle. And with every light on for so long in l. A. Now to be as transparent about the Vaccine Development and the data to evaluate we also how it would everyone even that incomplete on incomplete data we have shows black latino and tribal communities are disproportionately impacted by cove in 18 and have significantly less access to testing than white communities. We cannot repeat this when it comes too vaccine and then what that caused by refusing to take responsibility for resolving coordination problems in the supply chain. To draft and release a comprehensive covid19 vaccine that type of comprehensive plan we still dont have comprehensivela testing. How do we fight this information how do we strengthen the immunization infrastructure to ensure it is ready to face the unprecedented challenge . And then to the people directly into harms way. Our nap waiting. Thank you senator murray. Each witness will summarized in a statement in five minutes and have more time for questions. I welcome the witnesses. Its a distinguished panel we look forward to hearing from each of you. Its my privilege to introduce the first one, senator bill frist. He represented tennessee for two terms in the senate and House Majority leader owas themajoritd States Senate and serve on this committee. Heart Lung Transplant surgeon by training first practicing physician to serve in the senate since 1928 and now serves on several boards including the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, senior fellow with the bipartisan policy center, chairman an founder of the health national. In 2005 and sure he would talk about this, he gave many speeches on the Global Pandemic and the importance of preparedness. Ive submitted two of those to the records during the committees may 7 hearing. Next we will hear from the chief executive and chief Deputy Director for the health of the Michigan Department of health and Human Services. In this position, she oversees the Population Health medical services aging and Adult Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities administration for the state of michigan. With extensive experience in state and local governments prior to the current role she served as director and Health Officer for the Detroit Police department. Shes a practicing emergency medicine physician. The third withth mrs. Doctor jue executive Vice President and chief patient officer at merck co. And serves as a cochair of the commission on strengthening American Health security at the er for strategic and international studies. She served as the director of the centers for Disease Control cdc from 2002 to 2009. Under her leadership, cdc coordinate preparedness efforts in responses to several Public Health threats including west nile virus and the avian flu. She played a key role in the cpc response to the anthrax attacks of 2001. Senator romney will introduce the final fitness. Thank you mr. Chairman. Ii am happy to introduce my friend, mike levin who is most responsible for moving me from the golden chains of the private sector. He got me to leave my position and as such he was my boss and since then has become a dear friend. When i was running for president to lead my Transition Team im not sure i would have been a great president but i would have had a greatat administration because he put together an Extraordinary Team and laid out a pathway to help the country in numerous. As youve indicate you indicatea three term governor of utah and in the Bush Administration he served as the secretary of health and Human Services. One of his priorities was to focus on pandemic t preparation. He secured some 7 billion in the ring with the administration to prepare for and ask. Since leaving the government, he founded a the premier Healthcare Consulting firm in the country with hundreds c of employees unr his management as well as a private equity firm that he has built. Its an extraordinary record and he continues. My friend, mike levin. Now we begin with senator frist. Good morning chairman alexander and Ranking Members of the committee. Its great to be back and to see so many old friends and colleagues. In preparing for the inevitable biological Infectious Diseases that absolutely will come in the future. As you mentioned december 82005 at the National Press club i said in the same speech i gave in this body 15 years ago and repeatedly across the country i said its no longer a question of if but a question of when and i even said it would come from china at the time. As a physician with the Senate Delegation during the pandemic of 20,031st claimed to the patients responding to the anthrax attacks that was chris who clear then we were woefully unprepared for what was to inevitably come. Theres the Manhattan Project plaprojectplan of the century te the nation and during my time in the senate we laid the foundation and subsequently as you outlined, weve done more but this wasnt enough. Most of what i recommended in 2005 remains undone so i used the same categories i used in the communication weve got to clarify whos in charge of the emerging pandemic and only then would be consistent to beco coordinated response must be led at the National SecurityCouncil Level to facilitate the whole of wvernment approach. They should retain the position as the nations political voice of health. We must modernize the realtime domestic and international for protection system. At the federal level with the testing and reporting across the country we must engage globally diplomatically and economically an outbreak anywhere in the world is a risk everywhere. Its a risk to every community in america. The ability of the developing nations will be inextricably tied to the Public Health, infrastructure which is vitally dependent on the u. S. Support. They must establish Public Private partnerships with industries to be sustained. To serve as a control tower function. As i said then and now Research Development i called for the massive investment to create a biologicallybased manhattan help better defend us against the naturally occurring personnel were accidental or intentional bioterror threats including Infectious Disease. Categories of stockpiling without pursuits. The federal government should take the lead serving as the overlaying simple repository with a well structured Surveillance System that would track outbreaks to ensure that supplies are distributed where the risk is greatest. I ago the recommendations and we must make permanent the majority ofma the changes to unleash its power of the virtual care delivery in america. In certain areas publichealth funding in the vulnerable populations but for the past 25 years i conclude like the Armed Service we must have predictable consistent base funding for the Public Health security programs. Health security is National Security so lets treat it as such to advocate for the specific Health Defense authorization budget designation. This would [inaudible] and last week for both of the populations Health Equity in any pandemic preparedness response leads to comprehensively considering the care for th