Public health officials say the United States needs a plan and infrastructure to avoid the fragmented response to a new disease that marked its response to the COVID pandemic.
“We don’t have a systemic approach to medical product testing,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, principal deputy commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Margolis Center at Duke University and a former FDA commissioner, agreed. He said public health officials should work with state and local offices to devise strategies and set up systems to streamline necessary research for the next virus.
“We didn’t have, and still don’t have, a unitized response,” McClellan said….