{"id":1261,"date":"2026-05-17T11:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T11:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2026-05-17T11:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T11:40:24","slug":"were-not-ready-us-lags-on-pandemic-preparedness-after-covid-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1261","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re not ready\u2019: US lags on pandemic preparedness after Covid, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"33ec354a-6f65-4cc5-a706-3e687110f2b0\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a woman putting on a mask and adjusting the bands over her ears as someone speaks to her from a car window\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/3301d18c855dc0bbdb14c7ec2d8ab4d3a6188ad1\/0_0_6240_4160\/master\/6240.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Wanda Kwomo is testing for Covid-19 at the First African Methodist Episcopal church on 29 January 2022 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span> Photograph: Francine Orr\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"33ec354a-6f65-4cc5-a706-3e687110f2b0\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Wanda Kwomo is testing for Covid-19 at the First African Methodist Episcopal church on 29 January 2022 in Los Angeles, California.<\/span> Photograph: Francine Orr\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">\u2018We\u2019re not ready\u2019: US lags on pandemic preparedness after Covid, experts say<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>Experts say slashed funding and growing misinformation are some of the greatest challenges facing public health<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The hantavirus outbreak, while unlikely to spark the next big pandemic, is shining a spotlight on the ways public health has deteriorated in the US: its ability to test for rare diseases, its expertise on outbreak prevention and response, its ability to battle misinformation and restore trust.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cAssuming everything goes well in containing this outbreak, which I hope it does, the takeaway from that should not be \u2018we\u2019re fine,\u2019\u201d said Stephanie Psaki, former White House global health security coordinator. \u201cWe\u2019re not ready for this type of threat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Many of the people at health agencies who plan for a quick response to outbreaks, and the systems supporting them, are gone now, Psaki noted. Yet \u201cthis is just one of many, many pathogens. These types of things will continue happening.\u201d And, she pointed out, there\u2019s a 50\/50 chance of another pandemic at least as bad as Covid in the next 25 years, according to scientific models.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Examining the mistakes \u2013 and the progress \u2013 made during the Covid pandemic can help us prepare for the next big one, Psaki and other former top US officials said at a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/event\/what-happens-when-the-next-pandemic-hits\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">event<\/a> in Washington DC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Misinformation is one of the greatest challenges facing public health. Conspiracy theories and rumors aren\u2019t new; even the Milan plague around 1630 had its share.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But \u201cthe only difference between hundreds of years ago is social media\u201d, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/anthony-fauci\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Anthony Fauci<\/a>, former chief medical adviser to the president and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. \u201cWe\u2019re just being overwhelmed\u201d with misinformation online, he said, calling it \u201ca real problem which I don\u2019t see any easy solution to\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">People don\u2019t often relate to rigorous studies with methods sections, statistical analyses, and 17 supplementary figures in the New England Journal of Medicine, but they frequently relate to social media influencers pushing fake cures, Fauci said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIt\u2019s stunning. It\u2019s painful, but it\u2019s true that somebody on social media who\u2019s a trusted influencer will outflank any scientist who\u2019s trying to show you data, so you can\u2019t fight misinformation with data,\u201d Fauci said. \u201cYou have to fight misinformation with figuring out a better way to communicate to people on a level that they understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"6044a503-48cb-4b2f-961e-2ebaa9cc3208\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\">\n<div id=\"img-2\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a man and his reflection\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/12ecbdf04c0255673203f156e4f5fe33849c3b29\/0_207_3727_2237\/master\/3727.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"445\" height=\"267.09551918433056\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><a href=\"#img-2\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"6044a503-48cb-4b2f-961e-2ebaa9cc3208\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Dr Anthony Fauci arrives to speak about Covid in the James Brady press briefing room of the White House, on 22 April 2020, in Washington DC.<\/span> Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">That means releasing accurate information quickly \u2013 and it should involve pre-bunking myths before they have a chance to spread, Fauci said. \u201cOtherwise you\u2019re always playing catch-up. And when you\u2019re playing catch-up, you\u2019re losing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Officials also need to get better at communicating uncertainty, said Nina Schwalbe, a senior scholar at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Global Health Policy and Politics and former director of Covid-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery Initiative at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe say things too simply, and then people lose their trust.\u201d But people can handle uncertainty \u201cbecause the world is an uncertain place\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The very advances to come out of the pandemic \u2013 such as mRNA vaccines, widely viewed as one of the greatest technological advances of this generation \u2013 are now at risk, with slashed funding and growing misinformation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The science conducted during the pandemic was \u201cextraordinary\u201d, but it frequently \u201cgets lost in the somewhat muddled public health response\u201d, said Fauci. Vaccine development began six days after publication of the Sars-CoV-2 genome, and a vaccine that was about 95% effective was going into arms 11 months later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThat didn\u2019t happen by accident \u2013 that happened because of the years of investment in basic and clinical research,\u201d Fauci said. That work itself built on the response to a different epidemic, HIV. The Covid vaccine is \u201cone of the best vaccines that was ever developed\u201d, Fauci said, particularly because of its ability to be changed overnight as the virus evolves \u2013 and it can be produced quickly in enormous quantities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIt saved us,\u201d he said. \u201cCould you imagine how many more people would have died?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"we-have-to-invest-in-public-health\" class=\"dcr-12ibh7f\">\u2018We have to invest in public health\u2019<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Yet now that work is being pulled back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The US also failed to slow the pandemic in its flawed efforts to vaccinate the world, Fauci said, adding: \u201cWe got in our own way. We didn\u2019t make equity our driving force.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">When the US later offered vaccines to other countries, a lack of planning \u2013 including basic supplies like having enough syringes \u2013 stymied the effort. \u201cTens of millions of doses of vaccine is meaningless if there\u2019s no way of distributing them in the country that needs it,\u201d Fauci said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">This delay in global access to Covid vaccines did \u201cdeep\u201d and \u201clong-lasting\u201d damage to the alliances between the United States and other countries, Psaki said. \u201cIt\u2019s being reinforced by the positions of this administration, but the damage was deep, and it\u2019s very, very difficult to rebuild trust after that kind of betrayal.\u201d The mpox <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goats-and-soda\/2024\/07\/17\/nx-s1-5036441\/mpox-vaccines-south-africa-democratic-republic-of-congo\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">outbreak response<\/a> in 2024 was better, in part because there were already vaccines on hand \u2013 but \u201cwe were still not able to get those vaccines in arms\u201d, Psaki said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">It\u2019s also important to develop and distribute tests quickly, Fauci said. \u201cThe South Koreans were putting out 20,000 tests per day, and we were playing around with five tests that didn\u2019t work.\u201d But the \u201ccatastrophe\u201d extended beyond bad tests to a \u201crefusal to believe that there are other ways of doing it\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Pandemic preparedness is not just a domestic issue, Fauci said; it must involve working closely with international partners, and \u201cthat\u2019s something that, unfortunately, we seem to be steering away from right now, which is very troublesome to me\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Donald Trump has moved to leave the World Health Organization (WHO), which Psaki calls \u201can absolutely essential institution.\u201d The US contribution to WHO is $130m \u2013 roughly equivalent to the Pentagon\u2019s recent spending on lobster and steak, she noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In the absence of federal guidance, states are taking the lead by forming health alliances and working with WHO directly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cFrom where I sit, the federal government is not going to play the role that is needed in the next pandemic, and so we are watching states step up,\u201d said Matthew Kavanaugh, director of the Georgetown global health policy center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The basics of outbreak response and pandemic preparation haven\u2019t changed, Psaki said: \u201cStop a threat from emerging, identify the threat quickly, contain the threat, have a way to respond to the threat and keep people alive and keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Experts worry that the public, divided by politics and overwhelmed by misinformation, won\u2019t have an appetite for public health measures. But it\u2019s important to have \u201ca little more space for hope and trust\u201d, Psaki said. \u201cMost families want to keep their family members safe\u201d \u2013 which is different from the motivations of political leaders and others who may benefit from misinformation, she noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Schwalbe\u2019s father was one of the first victims of Covid in New York. He got sick in March 2020 as the entire system was falling apart, Schwalbe said. \u201cIt was just me and my dad in his apartment on Lexington Avenue as he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">They didn\u2019t have any oxygen or palliative care, but they did have refrigerator trucks for bodies and sirens wailing constantly in the street. She knew six people who died of Covid. The experience made her more determined to strengthen public health before the next crisis hits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe can\u2019t just leave public health as the unseen thing that people complain about when it\u2019s not working,\u201d Schwalbe said. \u201cWe have to invest in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US news<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/world\/hantavirus\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Hantavirus<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/world\/coronavirus-outbreak\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Coronavirus<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/science\/infectiousdiseases\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Infectious diseases<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/anthony-fauci\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Anthony Fauci<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/science\/medical-research\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Medical research<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=%E2%80%98We%E2%80%99re%20not%20ready%E2%80%99:%20US%20lags%20on%20pandemic%20preparedness%20after%20Covid,%20experts%20say&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/17\/pandemic-preparedness-after-covid?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F17%2Fpandemic-preparedness-after-covid&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/17\/pandemic-preparedness-after-covid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wanda Kwomo is testing for Covid-19 at the First African Methodist Episcopal church on 29 January 2022 in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1263,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/1263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}