On January 20, 2019, AZBio hosted a thought leadership event at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale featuring a panel discussion on Health Innovation with Dr. Anna Barker and Dr. George Poste. During the discussion, Dr. Poste, shared his thoughts on the need for governments and our industry to prepare for global pandemics and what the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense had reported. Dr. Poste, an ex officio member of the commission, shared that is was not a matter of if a global pandemic would occur, but of when.
The first report of a COVID-19 case in the U.S. was January 20, 2020. Today, the world is learning more about what happens in a global pandemic than we ever wanted to know. And, we still have a lot more to learn.
On April 20, 2020, Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), interviewed Dr. Asha M. George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, as part of the I AM BIO podcast series.
For years, leaders on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense told Congress and the White House that it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, a pandemic would happen. Exploring the panel’s unheeded recommendations can give the United States a blueprint for what to do going forward to protect us from the coronavirus and future threats.
Listen to the I Am BIO Podcast: COVID-19 – We were warned
What is The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense?
“The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is a privately funded entity established in 2014 to provide for a comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts, and to issue recommendations that will foster change. Former Senator Joe Lieberman and former Governor Tom Ridge co-chair the Commission. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Representative Jim Greenwood, former Homeland Security Advisor Kenneth Wainstein, and former Homeland Security and Counter terrorism Advisor Lisa Monaco serve as members.
From 2014-2015, the Commission convened four public meetings in Washington, DC on biological threat awareness, prevention and protection, surveillance and detection, and response and recovery. Current and former Members of Congress, former Administration officials, state and local representatives, thought leaders, and other experts provided their perspectives on current biodefense efforts, including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. While much good work has been achieved toward biodefense, these meetings have revealed systemic challenges in the enterprise designed to protect Americans from biological events.
Through these public meetings and other research, the Commission has identified systemic weaknesses in the national biodefense posture, and recommended 33 steps the government can take to mitigate this in its report, A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts. The report assessed ongoing efforts; articulated actions to improve the nation’s biodefense capabilities to prevent, deter, prepare for, detect, respond to, attribute, recover from, and mitigate biological incidents; and identified near and long-term actions by current and future Congresses and Presidential Administrations. The Commission continues to advocate for uptake of these recommendations at the highest levels of American government, through additional meetings, reports, and other activities, and is the only such body of bipartisan, former high-level policymakers to do so.”
Quote Source and more information: https://biodefensecommission.org/mission-our-team/